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Want
to transport containers overland
by rail from Busan to Warsaw ?
The
feasibility of developing the
Asia-Europe block train services
will up for discussion at the
forthcoming meeting of the
Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in
Bangkok later this month.
A
policy-level expert group will
meet in Bangkok to discuss the
formation of the Asia-Europe block
trains transport service network.
According
to the general manager freight
services of KTM Bhd, Abdul Radzak
Malek ESCAP had been studying the
feasibility making demonstration
runs of container block-trains
between Asia and Europe via
the routes making up the
Northern Corridor of the
Trans-Asia Railway
Radzak
who has been the success for the
block train services in Malaysia
will be representing Malaysia at
the meeting.
He
will present a paper entitled
“Asian experience through the
Malaysia-Thailand Landbridge.”
Nine
countries will be taking part in
conference to be held from 26 to
28 September 2001.
The
event will be participated by the
railways of Belarus, China, the
Democratic People’s republic of
Korea, Germany, Kazakhstan,
Mongolia, Poland, the Republic of
Korea and the Russian
Federation.
Radzak
said the meeting will address
issues relating to the development
of the routes in the corridor and
also review the interfaces between
each of the participating
railways to ensure the
railways to ensure the
availability of efficient
Asia-Europe corridors.
Once
completed the whole link will not
only offer an alternative to the
all blue-water transport mode but
also offers significant saving in
time and money in transporting
cargo across the region.
The
development of the cross continent
block train services is seen as
having enormous potentials for
growth, although the
infrastructure in certain regions
may need development and
upgrading.
Radzak
said certain issues such as
cross-border regulations, freight
charges and security also need to
be addressed.
He
said the participation of nine
railway corporations at the
meeting also reflects the firm
commitment as they do see economic
sense and the advantages of
creating a rail link through the
regions up to Europe, as a cheaper
alternative for transporting
containers.
Meanwhile
the representative of Euromash
Container Trading, Yakov Y Itzkov
who attended the Container Asia
2001 in Kuala Lumpur recently said
rail network is going to be a
better ad cheaper option between
Asia and Europe compared to sea
transportation.
The
idea of the rail link between Asia
Europe was first brought up in
Moscow in 1993 at an international
conference which led to a
government trade council being set
up to coordinate Trans Siberian
cargo operations between
North-East Asia and Europe.
The
Trans Siberia railroad has been
identified as the most efficiency
potential in inter-modal cargo
transportation operation compared
to the marine option and may
eventually attract around one
million containers annually said
Yakov.
"With
the new decision to have transit
railway link South Korea through
North Korea and the Russian
Federation into Europe is expected
to further improve the development
of block train. In addition
decision has also reached to
create a direct railway connection
from Japan to Russia and thence to
Western Europe, including
Ireland," said Yakov.
Yakov
believed these directions would
fit in easily into the Tran
Siberian railway. In this
connection, the container block
train service between Brest and
Berlin within the framework
of the Trans Siberian
railway have already been
launched.
"The
new line operations in pipeline
would lead to almost a two-fold
cut in distance and time. Besides
the railway with its operation
speed could also put the marine
option out of business,"
stressed Yakov.
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