. | . |
Fast cargo rail link planned from Beijing to Hamburg: report Beijing (AFP) Jan 10, 2008 China and five other countries have agreed to collaborate on a train service between Asia and Europe that is expected to transport cargo twice as quickly as by sea, Chinese state media said Thursday. Under an agreement signed on Wednesday by China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, the nations will simplify customs and border checks amid a range of ways to minimise the time for trains to cross boundaries, the China Daily said. "Barring any complications, a scheduled container train should be shuttling between China and Germany in a year's time," said Zheng Mingli, chairman of China Railway Container Transport, according to the report. The route, linking Beijing and Hamburg, is expected to boost trade and cargo flows between the two continents as it should take less than 20 days to transport goods from China to Germany. In contrast, shipping goods between the two destinations takes about 40 days, the report said. A demonstration container train carrying a load of Chinese goods, including electrical appliances, clothes, shoes and ceramic tiles, rolled out of Beijing on Wednesday and is expected to arrive in Hamburg in 18 days. After the train finishes its journey, officials from the six countries will analyse the route to see how operations can be improved, the newspaper said. Challenges lying ahead include different types of rail tracks in the countries, various customs and border checking rules and a higher cost than transport by ship. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Great Train Journey's of the 21st Century
Japan plans world's fastest maglev train: firm Tokyo (AFP) Dec 26, 2007 A Japanese rail operator said Wednesday it plans to introduce the world's fastest train in the next two decades, a next-generation maglev built at a cost of 45 billion dollars. |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |