Tang Zongwei, deputy director of the administrative committee of Liangjiang New Zone in Chongqing, the only provincial-level municipality in China's west, says the bulk of the goods that the trains carry are laptops.

The rail link has raised collaboration between Chongqing, especially Liangjiang New Area, a vehicle manufacturing hub in the city, and Europe to a new level, Tang says.

For European countries, the railway has turned what used to be Chongqing's big disadvantage, its location, on its head, encouraging trade with Southwest China.

"This new land route connects Chongqing with the European Union, which is the largest single market in the world," says Gerold Amelung, German consul-general in Chengdu. "Germany, as China's most important trading partner in Europe, will greatly benefit from it."

Awareness needs to be raised in business circles in Europe to take advantage of the railway to encourage trade relations between Chongqing and Europe, he says.

At present the freight trains linking Chongqing and Duisburg travel through Poland but do not stop there, and the Polish government is looking at the possibility of getting that changed, says Boleslaw Kosciukiewicz, minister counselor of the Polish embassy in Beijing.

"Poland is very much interested in paving safe, secure and more efficient trade routes connecting trade partners in Europe and China," he says. Not only does the line save time and money but also helps to greatly reduce CO2 emissions, he says.

Last year, 233,547 laptops were exported to Poland, an increase of 13 percent year-on-year

Railway a growth engine for Sino-German trade	Railway boosts economic growth in Tibet