1. The first-ever freight train, a 2-container train, around 600 metres (656 yards) long, left the vast London Gateway container port laden with whisky, soft drinks and baby products, bound for Yiwu on the east coast of China. It was seen off on its 18-day, 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) mammoth journey along a modern-day "Silk Road" trade route with a string quartet, British and Chinese flags, and speeches voicing hope that it will cement a new golden age of trade between the two countries as Brexit negotiations loom. The train went through the Channel Tunnel before travelling across France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan before heading into China in 18 days.
To see the map of the silk route trains, please refer to https://www.seat61.com/SilkRoute.htm
2. As a comparison with the modern-day "Silk Road", let us look at the Pan-American Highway. Please note that it is not a rail route, but a connected highway system linking the US with Canada with almost all of the Pacific coastal countries of the Americas. It passes through many diverse climates and ecological types, from dense jungles, to arid deserts. Unfortunately, some of the regions are passable only during the dry season, and in many regions driving is occasionally hazardous. Most unfortunate of all, because of a rainforest break of approximately 160 km (100 mi), called the Darién Gap, it is not possible to cross between South America and Central America, alternatively being able to circumnavigate this terrestrial stretch by sea. The 60-mile Darién Gap leaves the Pan-American Highway forever incomplete.
3. My friend, please note that the Pan-American Highway is not a trading route but a motorhome route. To create another great trade story, the US administration has to build a rail route to connect the US with Canada and all South and Central American countries. Then trains can carry cotton and other goods along the world's longest railway (Let's call it the "Cotton Route" as opposed to the "Silk Route") from and to the US throughout the entire American continent. From the American continent, the US can extend its global trading power eastward and westward with the "Tie and Trail" initiative as opposed to China's "Belt and Road" initiative.
Perhaps some years down the road, there will be a US presidential candidate who is not interested to leave behind the "Great Wall of America" as his legacy of being America's Qin Shi Huang. Then he may use the "Cotton Route" and the "Tie and Trail" initiative as his slogans and grandiose plans to "conquer the world" in his election campaigns.
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-60-mile-darien-gap-leaves-the-pan-american-highway-forever-incomplete
http://brilliantmaps.com/pan-american-highway/
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/first-silk-road-train-britain-leaves-china-001450249.html
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/10/first-silk-road-train-britain-leaves-china/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-American_Highway
http://www.dangerousroads.org/south-america/colombia/79-darien-gap-colombia.html
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/chinas-new-silk-road-europe-will-leave-america-behind/
https://www.thoughtco.com/qin-shi-huang-first-emperor-china-195679