(Yicai Global) Oct. 9 -- The CRExpress, the first train to connect China's eastern city of Yiwu with Europe, began its maiden voyage this morning.

The train left Yiwu, considered the world's capital of small commodities, at 10 a.m. today. It is scheduled to reach Liege in Belgium in 15 days, passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany.

The route is the first designed specifically to serve individual e-commerce traders of small commodities between China and Europe. A train will run the route twice a week in order to build a new channel for imports and exports of smaller goods.

Some 200,000 parcels containing cosmetics and household goods are on board the CRExpress as it makes its maiden journey, said Bu Hua, Chief European regional business head for Alibaba's Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, one of the CRExpress's operators.