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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| From camel train to freight train: new Eurasian rail |
| 2005-12-05 |
| AS TRAIN No 13 pulls into Dostyk station, the Chinese traders leap off to tout their wares â sunglasses, dancing dolls, Thermos flasks and foot massage machines. More than 2,000 years ago their ancestors came to this pass on Kazakhstanâs border with China â known as the Dzungarian Gate â to exchange goods and ideas on the ancient Silk Road. Now work has begun on a high-speed rail link passing through the town that is expected to rejuvenate the ancient trade route between East and West. The 2,500-mile (4,000km) rail link to the western borders of Kazakhstan will become the fastest land route between Asia and Europe. When completed in 2010, the $5 billion (£3 billion) project will take freight, and eventually passengers, from China, via Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey, to Europe in just ten days, its proponents say. The Eurasia Land Bridge will also significantly strengthen Chinaâs hand as it battles with Russia and the United States for influence in Central Asia in a modern version of the 19th-century âGreat Gameâ. Looking at a map of the world, the railway seems logical enough. Kazakhstan sits at its very heart â a huge expanse of flat desert and grassland five times the size of France, stretching all the way from China to the Caspian Sea. âBuilding here is easy; you wonât see a mountain for hundreds of kilometres,â Kanat Zhangaskin, the vice-president of Kazakhstanâs national railway company, told The Times. âIt makes perfect sense to reopen this ancient trade route.â At the moment most of the estimated £120 billion of goods traded between China and Europe are transported by sea, which usually takes 40 days, or on the Trans-Siberian railway, which takes 15 days. The Chinese Government is trying to move manufacturing to its western hinterland to iron out a dangerous income disparity with its eastern seaboard and exploit new markets in Central Asia. Hu Jintao, the President of China, has given the Kazakh project his personal backing and state-controlled Chinese companies have pledged billions of dollars in investment. China is also investing $750 million in upgrading its own railway line to Kazakhstanâs border. The only snag in the plan is the route west from Kazakhstan. The logical choice would be across southern Russia and Ukraine, but Moscow fears that the new railway would take business away from the Trans-Siberian. Another problem is that railways in the former Soviet Union were built with a wider gauge track than that used in Europe and China, to slow down any invasion. Kazakhstanâs new railway will use the narrower 1,435mm gauge and will run alongside the older 1,520mm gauge tracks. The favoured route now is to duck south into Turkmenistan, through Iran and into Turkey, which offers the added advantage of a potential link to the Persian Gulf; but that depends to a large extent on the questionable political stability of Iran and Turkmenistan. He argues that Kazakhstan needs the railway for itself to transport oil and minerals to Chinaâs vast market. âThe trade flow is already rising; we need it fast,â he said. This year trade at Dostyk is expected to hit 11 million tonnes; and work is almost completed on the first 198-mile stretch of the new railway. Critics say that the idea is nothing but a pipe dream, but for the residents of Dostyk, ten hoursâ drive from Almaty, it offers a rare glimmer of hope. âA few years ago there was nothing here,â said Talgat Kurganbayev, a 42-year-old railway worker: âNow you see the goods coming from China and you can see thatâs where our future lies.â |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 It'll work: the Chinese are borrowing a page out of Abraham Lincoln's book for developing the West by building a fast and easy transportation system. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2005-12-05 08:33 |