The first freight train linking China directly to the UK arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu today after a 12,000-kilometre trip, becoming the world's second-longest rail route.<br/><br/>The journey is the latest effort in China's drive to strengthen trade links with western Europe along a "Silk Road" route.<br/><br/>The world's top trading nation launched the "One Belt, One Road" strategy in 2013, and has since poured millions into constructing vast infrastructure links.<br/><br/>The new route is longer than Russia's famous Trans- Siberian railway, but about 1,000 kilometres shorter than the record-holding China-Madrid link, which opened in 2014.<br/><br/>London is the 15th city to be linked to a new freight network offered by the state-run China Railway Corporation.