TRANSPORTATION BOOST PUTS REGION ON ROAD TO RICHES

Government investment has provided Xinjiang's travel networks with better links to overseas markets and other parts of China

In 2013, train driver Xie Heng started working on the route of the China-Europe Railway Express, departing from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

In those days, the freight service, which aims to boost connectivity along the Silk Road Economic Belt via the Eurasian Land Bridge, could only take him to countries that border Xinjiang, such as Kazakhstan.

In 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by President Xi Jinping as a way to boost global trade and connectivity. The BRI consists of the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the oceangoing 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.