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Chinese one million inhabitant town of Yiwu plans to establish a direct rail line to Spain. Photo: City of Kiwu,China
The test of rail route from China to Spain started
Published: Tue, 2014-11-25 14:11-
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The train will pull 82 cargo wagons.
China has opened the world's longest train journey, crossing the whole of Central Asia and Europe writes Digital Journal.Labeled the new Silk Road, it is likely to give a major economic boost later to trade between China and the EU.
Its route will, according to officials, start from the city of Yiwu on the Pacific Coast to Madrid, the capital of Spain. The Washington Post reports that the journey will take 21 days and cover 6,200 miles (9,977kms). This makes it 450 miles (724kms) longer than the Trans-Siberian railway between Vladivostok and Moscow, which previously held first place.
According to RT, the train will pass through China's western region of Xinjiang and then continue through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France before reaching Spain. It would be roughly the equivalent of a train journey from New York City to Bogata, Columbia, in South America.
It departs from Yiwu, which is a centre for small consumer products, some 200 miles south of Shanghai. The Washington Post describes the city as a "home to a curious mix of foreign businessmen and petty traders, including a large community of Arabs."
China's aim is to expand its trade with the European markets, which amounts to more than $1 billion per day. The train is one of many similar long distance rail links in the pipeline. The goal is to "reduce dependence on sea and air cargo transport,” according to China’s state press agency.
At the moment, the running of the rail link is expensive, but authorities say that as trade expands, its costs will fall. The train will pull 82 cargo wagons and a test route run at the beginning of the year, which ended in Central Asia, already brought in an extra $39 million in trade for the Yiwu region.
Source: RT & Digital Journal
Av Markku Björkman
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