Shipping goods from Asia to Europe means passing through the Indian Ocean, which adds an additional 10,000 km to the journey.

It takes at least 40 days to ship goods from China to Germany, more than double the time it takes to send a train through the Eurasian corridor.

However, countries along the corridor have different types of rail tracks and various customs and border checking regulations, which has hampered the route's viability. It also costs more to carry goods by rail than by ship.

China's Ministry of Railways has been working to remove these obstacles and promote cooperation in the hope of reducing the cost of shipping goods by rail.