Asia-Europe railway "by 2007" excites exporters
Wed January 21, 2004 02:34 AM ET
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By Dominic Whiting
BANGKOK, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Trains could be zipping goods to Europe from far-flung Asian cities such as Singapore, Hanoi and China's Tianjin by 2007, saving exporters time and money, according to the United Nations.
Twenty-five countries agreed at a UN meeting in 1992 to try to link some 80,000 km (49,710 miles) of railways into a Asian network and establish rail corridors to Europe.
"By 2007, the network will be operational," Barry Cable, director for transport at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), told Reuters. "The political will is so strong now, I would have to imagine it will be completed."
Building the rail network, which would more than halve the time it takes to ship between the two continents now, mostly involves fusing existing national lines.
But many countries are buying new rolling stock and upgrading and extending lines, arousing the interest of rail specialists such as Germany's Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) , Canada's Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and France's Alstom (ALSO.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Cogivfer TF. A 1,700 km (1,056 mile) trial container run from Tianjin to Ulan Bator in Mongolia in November showed it is technically possible to send goods by train from China's industrial heartland, via Mongolia and Russia, to Finland in 10 days.
Cable said Korean firms and Japanese manufacturers with factories in China were very keen on this "northern corridor".
He said the route would be operational by mid-2004, saving many firms the cost of a 10-day shipment to the trans-Siberian railway at Vladivostok in Russia.
NICHE MARKET
"Movement of goods now is much more than the railways can handle, but the network can provide for a niche market for rapid delivery," Cable told Reuters in a recent interview at the U.N.'s Asia headquarters in Bangkok.
"Cutting the water link saves in the region of 10 days. I would assume costs would be substantially lower as well."
UNESCAP did studies on Asia-Europe links in the 1990s as part of its work with Asian rail authorities to build a trans-Asian railway network.
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