The round trip route passed from China through Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France and Spain – totally 8 countries. From Yiwu to Madrid the 82-container cargo train departed as far back as November 2014, having covered a more than 13000-km distance in 21 days. It had delivered to the capital of Spain 30 wagons laden with Christmas trinkets and decorations just before the Christmas Eve.

The train returned back to China via the same route in 24 days. The wagons were loaded Spanish wine, expensive olive oil and Spanish national dainty product – jamón, which are becoming more and more popular in China. Due to the low air temperatures and several unsolved organisational matters, the departure back was delayed; therefore the products arrived late for the Chinese New Year, which was celebrated on 19^th February.

One more obstacle for fast border crossing was difference in gauge width and the necessity to transfer from one gauge to another on the borders: between China and Kazakhstan (1435/1520 mm), between Belarus and Poland (1520/1435 mm) and between France and Spain (1435/1660 mm).

The freight train is believed to run from Yiwu to Madrid on the regular basis, connecting two big metropolises, located on the opposite sides of the Eurasian continent.