A new freight train service has begun between China and the UK -- a 7500-mile journey! It uses tracks with multiple gauges, and uses the tunnel under the English Channel, which I had assumed (wrongly) was only for passenger trains.

This story is reported in many news outlets, but I tried to find one that was not blocked by a pay wall or registration wall. Speaking of walls... oh never mind.

[www.dailymail.co.uk]





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First 'Silk Road' train from China to Britain arrives in London after a marathon 7,500-mile journey

The route known as the 'Silk Road' once helped bring a wealth of goods from China to Europe.
Today, the arrival of a freight train in east London has marked a new era for the 2,000-year-old trading route.

It is the first freight train service from China to the UK.

The train pulled in to Barking after an 18-day journey from Yiwu, a wholesale market town in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

It had passed through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France, finally crossing under the English Channel into Britain.

The consignment would have taken nearly twice as long to reach Britain by sea.

Laden with 68 twenty-foot equivalent containers, the train brought in a cargo of small commodities including household items, clothes, fabrics, bags, and suitcases.

Ten containers were taken off at the German hub of Duisburg.
The remainder arrived in London at Barking's Eurohub freight terminal.

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A number of different locomotives and wagons were used as the former Soviet Union states have a larger rail gauge than the other countries involved.

China Railway already has freight services to a number of European destinations, including Hamburg and Madrid.

They are part of China's One Belt, One Road programme of reviving the ancient Silk Road trading routes to the West, initially created more than 2,000 years ago.

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The service is faster than sending goods by sea. Weekly trains will initially be run to assess demand.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said the relationship with China remains 'golden' as she seeks to bring in billions of dollars in Chinese investment as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.

Mike White, group operations director of Brunel Project Cargo, which is involved in the London service, told Railway Gazette: 'The new service has a very quick transit time.'

He added: 'We believe this is going to change the way a lot of forwarders and shippers view their imports and exports for China.'

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