KUNMING, Sept. 24 -- Freight trains on a meter-gage railway line connecting southwest China's Yunnan Province and Vietnam have made over 1,600 trips since the end of 2017, transporting 634,200 tonnes of goods.

The railway line was initially launched in 1910 and has been in use for passenger services and occasionally freight over 100 years, China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd. said Tuesday.

The new service began operation on the meter-gage railway line connecting Kaiyuan in Yunnan and Haiphong, Vietnam in December 2017 to transport fertilizer, fishmeal, yellow phosphorus, and iron ore products between China and Southeast Asian countries.

To improve the efficiency of the freight trains, China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd. has optimized the logistics links. The round trip of China's outbound freight train has been shortened from 7-10 days to 3-5 days.

Meanwhile, the loading efficiency of exported chemical fertilizer has been improved, and the packaging costs of enterprises have decreased, enhancing the competitiveness of the products.

The railway departments have also strengthened their cooperation with the customs, inspection and quarantine, border control and other departments to realize 24-hour customs clearance at the ports, which has greatly improved the efficiency of customs declaration and inspection of import and export goods.