The freight train of China Railway Express (Xiamen-Budapest), linking southeast China's port city of Xiamen with Budapest, capital of Hungary, is seen at Haicang Station in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Jan. 19, 2018. The 11,595 km journey, which takes one stop at China's Xi'an, will take 18 days. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

The China-Europe freight train service has started to extend to southeast Asia, as a returned train made a brief stop on Friday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality before continuing toward Vietnam.

The train stopped in Chongqing to load cargo including mechanical equipment and industrial materials before heading to Vietnam's Hanoi, crossing the border via Pingxiang Customs in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The return train is expected to carry Vietnamese produce, including tropical fruit, rice, coffee and aquatics as well as electric commodities produced by factories set up by global manufacturers in Vietnam.

The first China-Europe line was launched in 2011 between southwest Chongqing and Duisburg in Germany. Since then, more than 50 train routes have been opened for the China-Europe freight service.

The Chongqing municipal commission of economy and information said in the future, more China-Europe lines would be connected to southeast Asian countries through linking up with the Pan-Asia Railway to reach Thailand, Laos and Singapore.