China-to-Germany Cargo Train Trial Run in 15 Days

[John Ashworth]

China-to-Germany Cargo Train Completes Trial Run in 15 Days

By Patrick Donahue

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A cargo train arrived in Hamburg on a trial run from Beijing after making the trans-Siberian journey in 15 days, half the time it would take to transport goods by sea, and underscoring growing trade between Asia and Europe.

Today's arrival is the result of cooperation between Deutsche Bahn AG, Germany's state-owned railway, and countries along the 10,000-kilometer (6,215-mile) route. The train crossed through Mongolia, Russia, Belarus and Poland on a trip that was expected to take 20 days, Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman Kerstin Eckstein said in a phone interview from the German port city.

``The workers of the six participating railways have proved with their excellent cooperation that Asian-European freight traffic traversing Eurasia has a future,'' Deutsche Bahn Chief Executive Officer Hartmut Mehdorn said in an e-mailed statement.

While train travel between Europe and Asia has long existed on routes such as the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the cooperation of the six governments is intended to make the shipment of cargo by rail a viable alternative to sea and air transportation by scaling back bureaucracy, including lengthy border processing and a patchwork of regulatory hurdles.

Mehdorn said Deutsche Bahn aims for regular European-Asian rail traffic by the end of the decade.

Chinese exports to the European Union climbed 19 percent in 2006, while China imported 11 percent more goods from the EU.

Train transportation is quicker than moving cargo by sea and also is ``significantly'' cheaper than airlifting goods such as clothing and electronics from China, Deutsche Bahn said.

Jan. 9 Departure

The train, bearing a load of electronic equipment, clothing and shoes, left Beijing's Dongzhimen Station on the afternoon of Jan. 9 and arrived at Hamburg's Hafen Station before 10 a.m. local time. Officials from the six railways, including Mehdorn and OAO Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin, were in Hamburg to greet the train on arrival.

Deutsche Bahn said authorities along the route must iron out regulatory details such as train length, track width and differing electronic systems to make the trip smoother.

Russian and Chinese authorities, for example, have a 1,000- meter (3,280-foot) limit on train length, while Germany has a 700-meter limit, Eckstein said. That called for splitting the 49- container train in Brest, at the Polish-Belarussian border.

For the part of the journey through Russia, the cargo was moved onto different cars to travel on Russian tracks, which are almost 6 percent wider than those to the east and west, Deutsche Bahn said.

Deutsche Bahn said Europe-bound goods originating in China's interior could be transported more cheaply on the Beijing-Hamburg route than by way of China's eastern ports.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: January 24, 2008 08:19 EST

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Amazing feat!

[John Ashworth]

Another report on this:

Beijing-Hamburg train halves time by sea

By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin
Last Updated: 1:11am GMT 29/01/2008

Chinese trade with Europe is about to be revolutionised by the rebirth of the old overland silk route - this time via rail.

An alliance of rail operators from the Pacific to the Baltic have just completed a trial run, moving cargo from China to the EU in just 15 days - under half the time it takes to ship containers.

The first train, carrying electrical goods, clothes and ceramics from Beijing, arrived in Hamburg late last week, five days ahead of schedule.

The new 6,000-mile silk route crosses China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany and tackles several different track gauges.

Officials from all six countries will spend the next year ironing out any teething problems before launching a regular service in 2009.

"This can be seen as a breakthrough in our co-operation," said Zheng Mingli, chairman of China Railway Container Transport, as the first train began its journey.

"Barring any complications, a scheduled container train should be shuttling between China and Germany in a year's time."

The transport companies behind the scheme insist the fast freight market between China and Europe could be worth many billions of pounds.

They hope to carve out a market delivering high value or time sensitive goods to Europe more cheaply than by air and more quickly than by sea.

"The workers of the six participating railways have proved with their excellent co-operation that Asian-European freight traffic traversing Eurasia has a future," said Deutsche Bahn chief executive Hartmut Mehdorn.

There are still potential problems, notably the risk that the huge convoys of containers get delayed by customs officials at one of the many border crossings.

"China is the workhouse of the world - the potential is enormous," said Luc Aliadiere, chief executive of the Paris-based International Union of Railways (UIC). But he said that goods could sit in railway sidings "sometimes for a week if the customs officials are so minded".

In an attempt to avoid such problems, the six countries involved in the project have signed a treaty to simplify their customs and border checks.

Although the project remains in its infancy, Chinese Railways appears to be betting that it will quickly become a major trade route. It is investing in 18 new railway container terminals to be built over the next five years.

telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited

[John Ashworth]

Correspondents on the uk.railway newsgroup all agree that there are two changes of gauge en route, but are not united on where. They offer the following suggestions:

- one at the Chinese/Mongolian border and one at the Ukrainian/ Polish border.
- China/Mongolia and Belarus/Poland.
- China has standard gauge, so there are TWO changes of gauge, to and from Russian gauge.
- Mongolia/Russia and former Soviet Union/Poland.