Photo taken on Jan. 8, 2021 shows freight trains at Erenhot Port in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Photo by Guo Pengjie/Xinhua)

BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Erenhot, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, has operated more than 9,000 China-Europe freight trains since the launch of the service in 2013, according to local customs.

As a key node city in the construction of Belt and Road Initiative and China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, as well as an important channel for domestic goods to be exported to Mongolia, Russia and Europe, Erenhot now boasts 57 China-Europe freight-train routes, connecting more than 50 cities in 22 provinces at home and 44 sites and cities in 9 countries abroad.

As of March 14, the Erenhot port has seen a total of 575 inbound and outbound China-Europe freight trains this year, a year-on-year increase of 20.29 percent. Specifically, the number of inbound trains totaled 265, up 28.02 percent, while the number of outbound trains reached 310, a rise of 14.39 percent.

With the rapid development of China-Europe freight trains, the number of China-Europe freight trains entering and exiting through Erenhot port is expected to exceed 10,000 ones this year, said relevant person in charge of local customs.