TAIYUAN, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- North China's Shanxi Province launched its first rail-road intermodal freight train along the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan intermodal transport corridor on Monday, marking the start of a new international logistics route linking the province with Central Asia, according to China Railway Taiyuan Group Co., Ltd.

The launch of the route highlights Shanxi's economic transition from being a traditional coal base to developing advanced manufacturing sectors like solar panel production.

The first train departed from the Zhongding logistics park in central Shanxi and will travel to the Kashgar North station in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, carrying solar panels. Containers will then be transported out of the country by road via Irkeshtam Port -- China's westernmost land port and a critical gateway to Kyrgyzstan -- and pass through Kyrgyzstan, eventually arriving in Andijan, Uzbekistan.

The journey is expected to take nine days, reducing the time by six days compared to the previous route, according to Gao Jianwen, operations department director at Shanxi Zhongding Logistics Group Co., Ltd. The previous route linking China with Uzbekistan traveled via Horgos Port, covering 4,935 km and passing through Kazakhstan's Almaty and Uzbekistan's Tashkent, he said.

The new route cuts comprehensive logistics costs by nearly 1,000 yuan (about 140.7 U.S. dollars) per container, Gao noted.

In recent years, successive launches of China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan rail-road freight trains have highlighted strengthening China-Central Asia infrastructure links, rising trade and rapidly expanding regional cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.