It is a new record -- a China freight train loaded with Christmas consumer goods finished a three-week journey, the longest in the world, from Yiwu in Zhejiang Province to Spain's capital, Madrid.

The train ran through more than 8,000 miles of track, passing through Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia, Poland, Germany and France before pulling up at the Abroñigal freight terminal in Madrid.

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The governor of China's Zhejiang province called the railway the "21st-century Silk Road" which is longer than the Orient Express and the Trans-Siberian railway.

The train had 30 containers loaded with 1,400 tonnes of cargo -- mostly stationery, toys and other goods for sale over the holidays across Europe.

China's ambassador to Spain Zhu Banzao said the train will return packed with olive oil, wine and jamón in time for the Chinese new year in February.

The trip was a pilot run to check the viability of adding Spain to a rail link that already connects China with Germany five times a week. 

Zhejiang's Yiwu is the biggest wholesale hub in the globe for small consumer goods where tens of thousands of traders work daily.

Authorities said a big advantage of the rail link is speed. The train took just three weeks to finish a journey that takes up to six weeks by sea.

The cargo did have to be moved three times during the whole trip due to incompatible rail gauges. The train also had to be changed every 500 miles.

Spain's InterRail Services and the company DB Schenker Rail owned by Tranfesa are running the freight service.

Ties between Madrid and Beijing soured earlier this year when a Spanish judge ordered international arrest warrants for China's former president Jiang Zemin and other top officials for their roles in an alleged genocide in Tibet.

Spain's parliament, in a matter of 10 days, dismissed the case.