Mazar-e Sharif serves as the major trading center in northern Afghanistan. It was the first city to connect itself by rail with a neighboring country. The rail service from Mazar-e Sharif to Uzbekistan began in 2011 and is expected to rapidly boost the economy of the city. Cargo on freight trains arrives to the last station near Mazar-i-Sharif Airport, where the goods are reloaded onto trucks or airplanes and sent to their last destinations across Afghanistan.