URUMQI -- The passenger bus service connecting Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan, was launched in Urumqi on Friday.

One-way trip of the 1,150-km cross-border route takes about 12 hours, according to the Xinjiang regional department of transport.

To facilitate passenger transportation between China and Kazakhstan, the region that borders Kazakhstan will launch four more international passenger bus routes from Urumqi, with destinations including Semipalatinsk, said the department.