 | This article'sfactual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(May 2024) |
TheEurasian Land Bridge (Russian:Евразийский сухопутный мост,romanized: Yevraziyskiy sukhoputniy most), sometimes called theNew Silk Road (Новый шёлковый путь,Noviy shyolkoviy put'), is therail transport route for moving freight and passengers overland between Pacific seaports in theRussian Far East andChina and seaports in Europe. The route, atranscontinental railroad andrail land bridge, comprises theTrans-Siberian Railway, which runs through Russia and is sometimes called theNorthern East-West Corridor, and theNew Eurasian Land Bridge or Second Eurasian Continental Bridge, running through China andKazakhstan. As of November 2007, about one percent of the $600 billion in goods shipped from Asia to Europe each year were delivered by inland transport routes.[1]
Completed in 1916, the Trans-Siberian connects Moscow with Russian Pacific seaports such asVladivostok. From the 1960s until the early 1990s the railway served as the primary land bridge between Asia and Europe, until several factors caused the use of the railway for transcontinental freight to dwindle. One factor is use of a widerrail gauge by the railways of the formerRussian Empire andSoviet Union than most of the rest of Europe and China.
China's rail system had long linked to the Trans-Siberian vianortheastern China andMongolia. In 1990, China added a link between its rail system and the Trans-Siberian viaKazakhstan. China calls its uninterrupted rail link between the port city ofLianyungang and Kazakhstan theNew Eurasian Land Bridge or Second Eurasian Continental Bridge. In addition to Kazakhstan, the railways connect with other countries in Central Asia and the Middle East, includingIran. With the October 2013 completion of the rail link across theBosphorus under theMarmaray project, the New Eurasian Land Bridge now theoretically connects toEurope viaCentral andSouth Asia.
Proposed expansion of the Eurasian Land Bridge includes construction of a railway across Kazakhstan that isthe same gauge as Chinese and European railways (standard gauge, as opposed to1,520 mm gauge in the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union), rail links to India,Burma,Thailand,Malaysia and elsewhere inSoutheast Asia, construction of a rail tunnel and highway bridgeacross the Bering Strait to connect the Trans-Siberian to the North American rail system, and construction of arail tunnel between South Korea and Japan. TheUnited Nations has proposed further expansion of the Eurasian Land Bridge, including theTrans-Asian Railway project.
Commercial traffic between Europe and Asia took place along theSilk Road from at least the 2nd millenniumBC. The Silk Road was not a specific thoroughfare, but a general route used by traders to travel, much of it by land, between the two continents along theEurasian Steppes through Central Asia. The 8,000-kilometre-long (5,000 mi) route was used to exchange goods, ideas and people primarily between China and India and the Mediterranean and helped create a single-world system of trade between the civilisations of Europe and Asia.[2]
Exports from Asia transported along the Silk Road included fabrics, carpets, furs, weapons, utensils, metals, farm produce, livestock and slaves. Civilisations active in trading during the road's history includedScythia,Ancient andByzantine Greece, theHan andTang dynasties,Parthia,Rouran,Sogdiana,Göktürks,Xiongnu,Yuezhi and theMongol Empire.[3]
Beginning in the 5th century AD, new land routes between Asia and Europe developed further to the north. Many of these routes passed throughYugra and extended to theBaltic region. TheKhazars,Volga Bulgaria, and theRus' Khaganate were active in trading along the northern trade routes.[3]
Traffic along the southern Silk Road routes greatly diminished with thefall of Constantinople in the 15th century and development of the sea route around theCape of Good Hope in the 16th century. By the 18th century, European influence on trade and new national boundaries severely restricted the movement of traders along all land routes between Europe and China, and overland trade between East Asia and Europe virtually disappeared.[2]
The Trans-Siberian Railway and its various associated branches and supporting lines, completed in 1916, established the first rail connection between Europe and Asia, from Moscow to Vladivostok. The line, at 9,200 kilometres (5,720 mi), is the longest rail line in the world.[4]
The Trans-Siberian connects the Russian Pacific ports ofVladivostok andNakhodka with Moscow. Rail links at Moscow allow passengers and freight to connect to train lines running further west into Europe. By making further transfers, passengers and freight can eventually reach Western European seaports.[5] The Trans-Siberian also connects withNorth Korea (e.g. viaDandong in Northeastern China, or directly atKhasan south of Vladivostok).[6][7]
A fully electrified and double-tracked line, the Trans-Siberian Railway line is capable of transporting around 100 million tons of freight annually. The line can handle up to 200,000TEU of containerized international transit freight per year.[8]
A more northerly east–west route across Siberia, parallel to the Trans-Siberian line and known as theBaikal–Amur Mainline was mostly completed in 1989. It terminates at the Pacific ports ofVanino andSovetskaya Gavan. Although this line is comparatively little used (the management mentions 6 million tons of freight per year, not indicating the year), the management expects the line to be fully used in the foreseeable future for oil and copper ore export, and has plans to double-track it.[9]
While the Trans-Siberian has always been used by theTsarist,Soviet and modern Russian government to project political power into their territories in Asia, in the 1960s it was opened by the USSR as an international trade route connecting the Western Pacific with Europe. Freight shipments on the Trans-Siberian, however, experienced increasing problems over time with dilapidated rail infrastructures, theft, damaged freight, late trains, inflated freight fees, uncertain scheduling for return of containers and geopolitical tension. As a result, use of the railway for international trade had declined to almost zero by the 1990s.[10]
According toHofstra University, as of 2001 there was renewed interest in using the Trans-Siberian as a route across Asia to Europe. Also, the Trans-Siberian links directly to railways which ultimately connect, via Finland and Sweden, to the year-round ice-free port ofNarvik in Norway. At Narvik, freight can be transshipped to ships to cross the Atlantic to North America. Rail links from Russia also connect toRotterdam, but may encounter greater congestion along this route with resulting delays. The trade route between the east coast of North America and eastern Russia using the Trans-Siberian is often called theNorthern East West Freight Corridor.[11]
In an effort to attract use of the Trans-Siberian to transport goods from Japan, China, and Korea to Europe, in the mid-1990s Russia lowered tariffs on freight using the railway. As a result, freight volume over the rail line doubled in 1999 and 2000.[12]
In February and March 2011, Japan'sMinistry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism sponsored a test of the route by shipping roof tiles to Europe via the Trans-Siberian. The tiles were transported by ship fromHamada, Shimane to Vladivostok, then by the railway to Moscow. The transit time was expected to be 30 days, in comparison with the 50 days on average it takes to ship cargo by ship from Hamada to ports in western Russia. If successful, the ministry would use the results of the test to encourage other Japanese companies to use the Trans-Siberian over the sea route.[13]
In 2011, a direct container rail service began carrying car parts 11,000 kilometres (6,800 mi) fromLeipzig, Germany, to inlandShenyang, China, throughSiberia in 23 days, every day.[14]
In 2013 a direct container, pallet, and general cargo rail service began, 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) fromŁódź, Poland, to inlandChengdu, China, through Siberia in 14 days, 3 days each week.[15]
According to Russian statistics, the amount of international container shipments transiting annually through Russia over the Trans-Siberian grew by a factor of 7 between 2009 and 2014, reaching 131,000 TEU (55,000 physical containers) in 2014.[16]
Belarusian Railways reported similar statistics: in 2014, the volume of direct container traffic from China to Western Europe crossing Belarus amounted to 40,600 TEU, on 25 direct container train routes. This constituted over 20% of Belarusian Railway's entire volume of container transportation that year, 193,100 TEU.[17] This was still much less than 0.1% of the number of containers that travel via China's sea ports (some 170 million TEU).
The original Moscow–Vladivostok route, completed in 1904, cut across China'snortheastern provinces, orManchuria; the section of the railway located within China was known as theChinese Eastern Railway. While the more northerly Trans-Siberian route, located entirely on Russian soil, was completed in 1916, the former Chinese Eastern Railway route continues as an important connector between the two countries' railway networks.[18]
The western border point (Zabaykalsk/Manzhouli) and the line connecting it to the Trans-Siberian main line, are now being upgraded, with the goal of enabling the railway by 2010 to pass 30 freight trains in each direction across the border, each one up to 71 cars long. The cross-border freight volume at this rail crossing is expected to reach 25.5 million tons by 2010.[19] Besides cargo (principally, Russian oil exported to China), this crossing sees a direct weekly passenger train, Moscow–Beijing, as well as some local passenger trains.[20] The eastern border point of the former Chinese Eastern Railway, atSuifenhe/Grodekovo, sees significant use as well, with over 8 million tons of freight crossing the border there in 2007,[21] and regular cross-border passenger service.[22]
A third, little-known and less used, rail connection between Russia and China was built farther south, betweenHunchun (in China'sJilin province) and Russian Makhalino (a station on theUssuriysk–Khasan–North Korean border line, 41 km (25 mi) before Khasan). It began operating in February 2000,[23] and saw only a minor amount of traffic (678 railcars of lumber) over the next two years. The line was closed in 2002–03, briefly reopened in 2003, and closed again in September 2004.[24] On 15 February 2011, the two companies who own the line, Northeast Asia Railway Group, a Chinese company, and JSC Golden Link, a Russian company, signed an agreement to resume operations on the line in May 2011.[25]
In November 2008, the transport ministries of Russia and the China signed an agreement about creating one more link between the railway systems of the two countries. It will involve a railway bridge between across theAmur (Heilong) River, connectingTongjiang in China'sHeilongjiang province withNizhneleninskoye in Russia'sJewish Autonomous Oblast.[26][27] On 4 November 2010, the project director, Wang Jin, toldXinhua News Agency that construction on the bridge would begin in January 2011.[28]
TheTrans-Mongolian line, connectingUlan-Ude on the Trans-Siberian with China'sErenhot via the Mongolian capitalUlaanbaatar, both serves as a crucial link to the outside world for landlocked Mongolia, and the shortest connection between the Trans-Siberian Railway and Beijing. This line's capacity, however, is limited by its being single-track.[29]
While the USSR had long been connected with China via the rail links in Northeastern China andMongolia, since the 1950s plans existed to connect the two countries' rail networks at theKazakhstan/Xinjiang border. The Soviets completed their line from Aktogay (a station on theTurksib in eastern Kazakhstan) to their border station Druzhba (nowDostyk), but the construction on the Chinese side stopped because of theSino-Soviet split of the 1960s. In 1985 construction commenced on theNorthern Xinjiang Railway to link the Chinese and Russian rail networks via Kazakhstan. The section betweenÜrümqi andAlashankou was completed on 16 September 1990, linking the railway lines of the two countries at Dostyk. In July 1991 the firstgoods train traveled along the line from China to Kazakhstan's then-capital ofAlmaty.[30] In December 2009, a second rail link from China was built to the Kazakhstan border atKhorgos. TheJinghe–Yining–Khorgos Railway forks off of the Northern Xinjiang Railway at Jinghe and approaches Kazakhstan from theIli River Valley. A rail link on Kazakh side will extend the line toSaryozek by 2013.[31] The rail link through the Korgas Pass was completed in December 2012.[32]
Because Kazakhstan was once in the Russian Empire and then a member of the USSR, its rail system connects with and carries the same rail gauge as the Russian rail system, as well as the other Central Asian republics ofTurkmenistan, Uzbekistan,Kyrgyzstan andTajikistan.[33]
From Kazakhstan, four major north–south railways connect with the Russian rail system. Two connect with the Trans-Siberian Railway (theTurksib and theShu–Nur-Sultan–Petropavlmeridional line) while the other two (theTrans-Aral Railway, and the connection viaAtyrau andAstrakhan Oblast) go directly to European Russia. These links to the Russian rail system are sometimes called the Eurasian Railway.[34] Kazakhstan plays an important role in the "New Silk Road" initiative, known as "One Belt, One Road" linking China and Europe through Central Asia and Russia.[35]
A new direction of the Silk Road was launched in January 2016 and included the Ukraine – Georgia – Azerbaijan – Kazakhstan – China route.[36]
Kazakhstan's infrastructure development programNurly Zhol was developed in line with the New Silk Road Initiative. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev even noted that Nurly zhol was a part of the New Silk Road Economic Belt.[37]
There are three main routes for container services from China to Europe: Eastern route from Vostochny Port (Russia), northern route from west China via Manzhouli/Zabaikalsk border stations and southern route from east China via Dostyk border station, through which totally 25k TEU has been transported on rail by 2014.[38]
In January 2008 China and Germany inaugurated a long-distance freight train service between Beijing andHamburg. Travelling a total of 10,000 kilometres (6,210 mi), the train uses the China Railways and theTrans-Mongolian line to travel fromXiangtan (inHunan Province) toUlaanbaatar, where it then continues north to the Trans-Siberian. After reaching the end of the Trans-Siberian at Moscow the train continues to Germany via rail links inBelarus and Poland. Total transit time is 15 days, as compared with the 30 days average it would take for the freight to make the same journey by ship. The first train of 50 containers, carrying a mixed load of clothes, ceramics and electronics (for theFujitsu company), travelled on tracks operated by six different railways.[39][40]
Hartmut Mehdorn, chairman ofDeutsche Bahn (DB), stated in March 2008 that regularly scheduled, weekly China-Germany freight services should be in operation by 2010.[41] In April 2009, however, DB postponed the service indefinitely because of theglobal economic crisis.[42]
Another test run, fromChongqing toDuisburg viaAlashankou crossing,Kazakhstan, Russia,Belarus, and Poland took place in March–April 2011, covering 10,300 km (6,400 mi) in 16 days. It was again said by DB that if there is enough demand, the service can be made regular already in 2011,[43][44] As of March 2014, theChongqing-Duisburg route makes three weekly services carrying up to 50 forty-foot-long containers.[45]
The transportation authorities in another industrial center of central China,Wuhan, plan to organize regular runs of direct freight train between Wuhan and European destinations (Czech Republic, Poland, Germany) starting in April 2014. Plans call for the service starting from 1–2 trains per month in April–June 2014, gradually increasing the frequency to 1–2 trains per week in 2015. A new customs facility is under construction in Wuhan's Wujiashan (吴家山) industrial area; after its planned opening in October 2015, exports from the Wuhan region will be able to clear Chinese customs there, instead ofAlashankou.[46]
By 2016, the freight rail service between a number of container terminals in China and their counterparts in Europe has become fairly regular. Between some city pairs, there is one train per week.[47]
Both with respect to cost and speed, the China-Europe direct train service is in between the air and sea options. While it is estimated that the overall volume of goods moving between China and Europe by rail is not going to surpass 1–2% of the sea cargo volume, it may eat significantly into the air cargo volume.[47]
The service is typically used for valuable and somewhat time-sensitive cargo where the time advantage of rail over ship is essential, which, however, is heavy enough to make the cost saving vs. air transport noticeable. Typical cargoes include complex machinery and spare parts (in both directions), as well as high-end groceries and consumer goods (primarily toward China).[47] While major customers ship their products by full container load, freight forwarders also make it possible to send less-than-container shipments.[47]
On the European end of the freight route, the rail terminal nearDuisburg's river port (Ruhrort) is a major destination. According to a 2018 report, Duisburg is either the destination, or one of the destinations, of some 80% of all direct China-Western Europe cargo trains.[48]
The New Eurasian Land Bridge, also called the New Eurasian Continental Bridge, is the name given to China's rail link with Central Asia. The route includes China's east–west railways which, in addition to the Beijiang line, are theLonghai Railway and theLanzhou–Xinjiang Railway. Together, the railways create an uninterrupted rail link between the port city ofLianyungang inJiangsu province and Kazakhstan. In 1995 the Chinese and Kazakhstan governments signed an agreement which allows the latter to use Lianyungang as its primary seaport for exports and imports,[49] and the former intends for Lianyungang to serve as the designated starting point for the New Eurasian Land Bridge.[50]
From Almaty in Kazakhstan, the railway extends toTashkent andSamarkand, Uzbekistan and then toTejen, Turkmenistan. From Tejen, another line continues toAshgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. After Ashgabat, the line ends atTürkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan, a port on theCaspian Sea.[51]
Since 2013, theTrans-Caspian International Transport Route has been operating, which goes through the territory of Kazakhstan to the PortKuryk, then through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan (Ələt), then to Georgia, and from the GeorgianPoti Sea Port through theBlack Sea to the countries of theEuropean Union. After theRussian invasion of Ukraine and the disruption of previous routes, this route became more relevant.
In 1996 a branch railway from Tejen was constructed across the border withIran (atSerakhs) and linked to theIslamic Republic of Iran Railways. The link potentially enables rail freight from China to reach ports on thePersian Gulf and via other train lines, to reach into theCaucasus andTurkey.[52] In 2016, direct container train service was inaugurated on this route, betweenYiwu (Zhejiang Province) andTeheran; the trip takes 14 days.[53]
The central Asian route did not extend all the way into Europe until October 2013 when the rail link across theBosphorus though theMarmaray link was opened.[54][55] Iranian rail lines use 1,435 mm (4 ft8+1⁄2 in) gauge, requiring freight cars transiting from China into Iran to change wheel gauges twice. The train ferry acrossLake Van is also a capacity restriction.[51]
Chinese state media claims that the New Eurasian Land/Continental Bridge extends from Lianyungang toRotterdam, a distance of 11,870 kilometres (7,400 mi). The exact route used to connect the two cities, whether through Mongolia or Kazakhstan, however, is unclear.[56]
An alternative way from China to Europe is via Turkey. The route from China follows Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Turkey. Due to longer distance, insufficient service, and border crossings, this route has not regularly been used for direct transport from China to Europe.
However, work is underway to improve the viability of this route, such as theMarmaray project to connect Europe and Asia via a tunnel under theBosphorus.[57] After the completion of the project, a continuous run of trains will be possible between Asia and Europe, which is now done by rail ferry service.[58] But the Marmaray tunnel may give a limited service to freight trains due to dense usage by public transport.[59] On 7 November 2019 the first Chinese freight train through the Marmaray tunnel to Europe ran, fromXi’an using a Chinese locomotive. This demonstrated a China to Turkey transportation time reduced from a month to 12 days.[60]
TheBaku–Tbilisi–Kars railway also provides a route via the Caspian Sea by bypassing Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.[61] The new railway lines constructed in Kazakhstan will make it shorter. The new route, in this case, is China–Kazakhstan–Azerbaijan–Georgia–Turkey.[62]
The former countries of the Russian Empire and USSR, including Finland (which was once part of Russia), as well as Mongolia, use atrack gauge of1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in). The internationalstandard gauge used in most of Europe and China is1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in). As a result, trains cannot run from China or European countriesinto or out of the former USSR withoutchanging bogies. Large facilities to carry out this procedure exist at most border crossing between the "Russian" and "standard" gauge territories (e.g., atZabaykalsk[20] orErenhot)[63]Changing thebogies on arail car takes hours and special, heavy equipment. In many cases (especially,containerized freight), freight is transshipped from one train to another instead of changing the bogies. As of 2016, this is the usual procedure with China-Europe container trains at places such asKhorgos; it is reported that containers can be moved from one train to another in as little as 47 minutes.[47] In the case of liquids, frozen goods and hazardous materials, however, the bogies are usually changed.[64]
It has been suggested that on some linesvariable-gauge axles would achieve significant time savings in comparison tobogie exchange. However, their implementation would involve a much higher capital cost, requiring eitherretrofitting or replacement of existing bogies.[65]
On 10 March 2004 the Kazakhstan Railway Company Ltd announced that it was looking for investors to fund the construction of a railway stretching 3,083 kilometres (1,920 mi) from China across Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea that would be the same gauge as Chinese railways. Thus, the railway would allow trains from China to cross Kazakhstan without having to change bogies. The reported construction cost of the new railway was $3.5 billion. Chinese media reported that the railway would complete the link between China and Europe via central Asia, but it is unclear where the actual link to Europe would be. Also unclear is whether construction has yet to begin on the project.[66]
The governments of India andBurma have proposed building, with China's cooperation, a link to the Eurasian Land Bridge that would start in India or Burma and connect to the Chinese rail system inYunnan. The route would allow freight from India and Burma to travel overland to Europe. The link would also give rail access for China to the Indian Ocean. One proposed starting point for the route isKyaukpyu. The governments ofThailand andMalaysia are also studying the feasibility of establishing rail links with China.[67]
Both Russia and China are seeking to establish a permanent rail link with South Korea by way ofNorth Korea to allow South Korean goods to be shipped to Europe via the Eurasian Land Bridge. According to Choi Yeon-Hye, a professor of marketing and management at the Korea National Railway College, a rail connection fromBusan to Rotterdam would cut shipping time from 26 to 16 days and save $800 per container of freight.[68] As part of its plan to link the Trans-Siberian to North and South Korea, Russia rebuilt its rail link from Khasan toRajin, finishing in October 2011.[69][70]
The South Korean government announced on 2 December 2009 that it would conduct an economic and technical study on the feasibility of constructing undersea tunnels for transporting goods and people to and from the country directly toKyushu, Japan andShandong, China.[71]
TheUnited Nations Development Programme has advocated greater regional integration along the Eurasian Land Bridge, including development of rail links between the countries of South and Southeast Asia and Central Asia, called theTrans-Asian Railway project.[72] Chinese leaders have called for the establishment offree trade zones at both ends of the Eurasian Land Bridge to facilitate development.[73] Said Khalid Malik, United NationsResident Coordinator in China, "If this comes true, it will enable the continental bridge to play its due role in enhancing co-operation between Asia and Europe, and promoting world peace and development."[74]
In 2010 and 2011, China announced plans to finance expansion of the rail systems in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam andconnect them to China's rail system viaKunming. The plans include construction of a high-speed rail line from Kunming toVientiane, beginning in April 2011, with a possible future extension toBangkok.[75]
On 15 December 2011, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that a rail link was being considered between Sakhalin Island and Japan. The rail line, constructed in an undersea tunnel, would link Japan to the Trans-Siberian.[76]
In 2024, the governments of China,Uzbekistan, andKyrgyzstan agreed to build a 352-km rail link over theTorugart Pass, connectingKashgar with theTrans-Caspian Railway via theFerghana Valley, bypassing Kazakhstan. Construction of the Kyrgyzstan railway began in 2025.[77]
In April 2007 the Russian government announced that it was considering building a double trackbroad gauge rail tunnel under theBering Strait betweenChukotka andAlaska. The tunnel, as projected, would be 100 km (60 mi) long and would include oil and gas pipelines,fiber optic cables and power lines.[78] The tunnel project was estimated to cost $65 billion and take between 15 and 20 years to build. In addition to the Russian government, sponsors of the project apparently includeTransneft and RAO United Energy Systems.[79]
The project, as envisioned, would connect the Trans-Siberian viaKomsomolsk-on-Amur/Yakutsk in Siberian Russia with theNorth American rail network (gauge to be widened) atFort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, a distance of 6,000 km (3,700 mi). A significant hurdle for the project is that the nearest major road to the Russian end of the tunnel is 1,600 km (1,000 mi) away. In addition, Alaska has no direct rail link to either Canada or thecontiguous United States.[80] Other leaders, includingWally Hickel,Lyndon LaRouche,Sun Myung Moon, and the14th Dalai Lama have also advocated the construction of a tunnel or bridge across the strait.[81]
It was reported in the press in March 2007 that China intends to build a high-speed rail link between China and Western Europe[82][83][84][85] with the possibility of a high-speed rail journey from Beijing to London taking just two days.[86]
In February 2011, theChinese government announced that it would jointly sponsor the construction of a high-speed rail line between Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan. The announced completion date was 2015.[87][needs update]
