A new freight train was recently launched connecting Xi'an, China's northwest China's Shaanxi Province to Vietnam.

Chinese state media reported that the new freight train left the Xi'an international port on August 23 for Vietnam's Hanoi, marking the first China-Vietnam freight train route connecting Shaanxi and Vietnam.

The train was loaded with 41 carriages of asbestos which were transported from Kazakhstan to Xi'an via the China-Europe freight train service.

"In the past, it would take about 20 days to transport goods from Xi'an to Vietnam via the traditional rail-sea combined transportation. Thanks to the China-Vietnam freight train route via Guangxi's Pingxiang port, the journey is shortened to eight days covering 2,384 km," the report said.

Meanwhile, Xinhua said the total trade volume between China and ASEAN in the first seven months of this year amounted to 3.53 trillion yuan (about US$514.3 billion).

"With reduced transport time, the new freight train service will enable Chinese enterprises to expand their presence in the ASEAN market," the state press agency added.