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First train ex China to London

The world’s longest freight train connections

Barking / UK

CONTENTS

First train ex China to London 3

The world’s longest freight train connections 4

Block trains to Uzbekistan 5

News from the Railway Market 8

Dear Readers:

It crosses eight time zones, from Chi-na to Spain, the longest freight train connection ever. In January, an “island connection” was added: the fi rst freight train left China for London, UK. The 50 kilometer Channel Tunnel that con-nects the island to the continent makes it possible. With a 37 kilometer leg underneath the Strait of Dover, it is the longest underwater tunnel worldwide.

On the occasion of this new milesto-ne in block train traffi cs, “Allianz pro Schiene”, a German alliance for the promotion of rail traffi c, had some inte-resting questions for Carsten Pottharst, Managing Director of our Germany InterRail organization. For a shortened version of the interview, go to page 4.

InterRail not only focuses on traffi cs to Europe, but also on the growing num-ber of exports from China to Central Asia. A fact that the block trains from Xuzhou, China, to Tashkent, Uzbeki-stan that were dispatched in January and February emphasize. Read more on page 5.

Enjoy reading!

Hans ReinhardChairman of the BoardInterRail Holding AG IMPRINT

InterRail Holding AG, Winkelriedstr. 19, 9000 St. Gallen / SwitzerlandTelefon: +41 71 227 15 15, Telefax: +41 71 227 15 30info@interrail.ag, www.interrail.ag

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NEWS FROM THE INTERRAIL GROUP

First train ex China to London

Once again, the InterRail Group, headquartered in Switzerland, has been appointed as the ope-rator of a pioneer train. The dis-tance between Yiwu and Barking, UK, is about 12,000 kilometers. The container train with 44 x 40’ boxes ex point of departure Yiwu (ten of the containers were desti-ned for Duisburg and were unloa-ded there) carried mostly textile goods.

With the beginning of the new year, another milestone in container block train traffic between China and Europe has been set: The first test train from China to London arrived on January 18. The direct rail connection to the UK, made possible thanks to the Channel Tunnel, is a historic event.

In offering such products and es-tablishing new routes, InterRail benefits from the good coopera-tion with its longtime partners. The Chinese Railways subsidi-ary CRIMT contracted InterRail. For the CIS leg of the route bet-ween Dostyk and Brest, InterRail subcontracted KTZ Express, a subsidiary of Kazakh Railways. InterRail also subcontracted rail

freight operator DB Cargo AG and DB Cargo UK. At the Duis-burg container terminal, the 34 x 40’ containers destined for the UK were trans-loaded onto spe-cial DB container platforms ap-proved for the Channel Tunnel.

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NEWS FROM THE INTERRAIL GROUP

The world’s longest freight train connections

Allianz pro Schiene: Mr. Pottharst, in January, InterRail operated the first freight train from China to Eng-land. From Yiwu near Shanghai, the train was routed via Kazakhs-tan, Russia, and Belarus, then Po-land, Germany, Belgium and France through the Channel Tunnel to its destination at Barking near London. What is the biggest challenge with such super long-haul destinations?

Carsten Pottharst: You have to ca-refully observe two things. Number one: the coordination at the bor-der crossings must run smoothly. All parties involved have to know when the train arrives and when it leaves. Number two: you need to provide the right wagon at the right place. In this case, the 44 boxes (40’ containers) were trans-loaded three times along this 12,000 kilometer route; plus there are two changes in railway gauge, too. With such transports, all processes must be one hundred percent in sync, for as a rule our schedules have to meet tough requirements.

Allianz pro Schiene: The train co-vered the long distance in 18 days. For comparison: a container vessel can scarcely beat 30 days.

Carsten Pottharst: We now have already lots of experience with the-se transports, and we have develo-ped a network of reliable partners in the meantime. This is why we can achieve these record transit times. Last year, along the New Silk Road, we operated about 280 trains from China to Europe. The first 11,000 ki-lometers are easy; only in Europe, do things get trickier.

On the occasion of the first container train from China to London, Christopher Harms (Allianz pro Schiene) interviewed Carsten Pottharst, Managing Director of InterRail Europe GmbH. Here’s an excerpt; the entire interview can be found in the ‘Allianz pro Schiene’ website (see link at the end of this article).

Allianz pro Schiene: Why is that?

Carsten Pottharst: The European railway network is congested; es-pecially the border crossings are trouble spots. Here, controls and operative border crossing someti-mes take much more time than for instance in China or Kazakhstan, where everything runs like clock-work in spite of bitingly cold winters and gales. In Germany specifically, the trains are clocked in the railway net at much higher frequencies, and there’s a much broader range of goods, which makes things more complicated. At certain border cros-sings, there’s always congestion; Aachen for instance is a bottle neck. In France, one of the rather frequent strikes can surprise you, and then there are the unplanned construc-tion sites that put your schedule to the test.

Allianz pro Schiene: But internati-onal rail freight traffics is growing..

Carsten Pottharst: That is true. China boosts a very strong econo-mic development. The Yiwu region, from where we dispatch many of our freight trains headed for Europe, is the world’s biggest trading platform for textiles, electrical appliances and other goods. With the One Belt, One Road initiative, China is investing enormous sums in the development of infrastructure. And the political in-tent to get the transports onto rails is evident. For the Chinese, this is an investment into the future. When we began our Asia activities, we had one westbound block train per week; today, the number has increa-sed manifold. The trains are routed either via Russia, Kazakhstan or Mongolia. In Belarus, the routes converge as a rule. From there, it is on to the EU. The connection is sta-ble, secure, and fast.

Source: Mercator Institute for China Studies - www.merics.org

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5

NEWS FROM THE INTERRAIL GROUP

55

INQUIRING

Elena Borisova (33)Since 2004 with the InterRail Group

I consider a working day successful......when I see a good and eff ective teamwork with quality and devel-opment aimed to result achieving.

What impresses me most about my job... …are people. And possibility of touching diff erence cultures. Another part - there’s still a win-dow for unconventional approach and creativity.

If I were not working in the trans-port and logistics business, I would like to ……manage a sewing factory for clothes production.

If I could go on a trip around the world, these would be my desti-nations...oh.. all places where there is fresh water, wild nature and big fi shes. Kamchatka and Alaska fi rst. And Antarctica as a special target.

I have always wanted to …....make every day longer to have enough time for all interesting things.

Branch Manager of InterRail Service LLC in Saint-Peters-burg, Russia

We asked Elena Borisova some personal questions:

Allianz pro Schiene: Why is the transport by rail so important to Chi-na?

Carsten Pottharst: The question is: where are my markets? If my destination is in Eastern or Sou-thern Germany, I don’t have to go via Hamburg or Rotterdam, which would mean a detour. We are re-gistering an increase in demand generally. The network will fan out, among others because China wants to off er departures from additional

Allianz pro Schiene:In Germany’s most unconventional transport alliance, 23 non-profi t organi-zations and over 135 companies from every part of the railway sector work closely in permanent collaboration. The motivation is the promotion and improvement of rail transport in Germany.

cities. We have now sent our fi rst train to London; Paris is under dis-cussion, and Prague and Budapest will surely follow.

For the entire interview, go to:

Block train service between China and Uzbekistan At the beginning of the year, Inter-Rail Uzbekistan was able to start an interesting project for a customer: three block trains ex Xuzhou, Chi-na, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Two trains have already arrived, the third started on February 16. The fi rst two trains pulled 92 x 20’ containers each, laden with steel coils, and weighing about 2,500 tons each. For the logistics services pertaining

to the precarriage of the products in China, the temporary storage as well as the loading of the containers, InterRail involved the Chinese Milit-zer & Münch organization, which is also part of the TransInvest Group. More orders are to follow.

http://bit.ly/2md8W80

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MORE NEWS

Azerbaijan and Switzerland: prospects for cooperation

Azerbaijan and Switzerland are ex-amining possibilities of trade traffi c via the North-South and South-West corridors. Javid Gurbanov, the Chairman of Azerbaijan Rail-ways CJSC, and Hans Reinhard, the President of InterRail Holding AG discussed the matter at a bi-lateral meeting in Zurich on Janu-ary 9. Azerbaijan is actively invol-ved in implementing international transport corridors and undertakes important steps to increase the nation’s transport potential as a transit country. “Our main goal is to attract transit cargos by using Azerbaijan’s favorable geographi-cal location for freight traffi c via the routes running from Central and Eastern Asia to Europe, and vice versa, through the country’s terri-tory,” said Javid Gurbanov. Hans Reinhard confi rmed that InterRail is highly interested in taking into operation the North-South trans-port corridor. He also addressed the importance of strategic coope-ration with the Azerbaijan Railways in this sector.

On 22 February, a second meeting was held in Azerbaijan. Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov presented developments and prospects in the Azerbaijani railway sector. Thus, construction on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line is nearly fi nished; a series of test runs has already been perfor-med, among others using a die-sel locomotive, up to the Turkish border. The tests confi rm that the engines run unhindered along the entire railway line.

Plans are to open the section for railway traffi cs this year. According to the order issued by the Presi-

dent of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on 7 December 2015, to accelera-te work in the Azerbaijani section of the international transport cor-ridor ‘North-South’, a new railway bridge, 8.3 kilometers in length, was built between Astara station and the Azerbaijan-Iranian border.

January: in Switzerland

At this time, fi nal work is being exe-cuted on the bridge across the river Astarachay. (Sources: Trend Aserbaidschan, http://en.trend.az und www.ady.az)

February: in Azerbaijan

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MORE NEWS

InterRail at transport logistic Munich 2017This year, the transport trade show “transport logistic 2017” is held in Munich from May 9 to 12. Inter-Rail Europe GmbH will present its portfolio at the stand of Logistics Alliance Germany (LAG), Hall B5, Stand # 312, as co-exhibitor.

In 2016, InterRail Europe GmbH became a member of the Logistics Alliance Germany association to expand its own network, to better be able to launch new products on the market, and to arouse enthusi-asm for logistic solutions made in Germany.

Logistics Alliance Germany (LAG) is a public-private partnership project of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastruc-ture and the German logistics in-dustry with the aim of marketing the logistics location Germany un-der the motto “Logistics made in Germany” in non-European mar-kets.

Members of

www.logistics-alliance-germany.de/

Centrally located, with excellent infrastructure, competent logistics service providers and an immense range of logistics know-how, Ger-many has a lot to off er in terms of logistics.

...but before, you can visit us at ...TransRussia 2017 in Moscow – it takes place from April 18 to 20.

Quelle: transportlogistic.de

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Rail line connecting Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and IranKTZ Express, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan Railways, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines have established a joint venture to develop logistics infra-structure. The two companies are planning to construct a terminal in the port of Bandar Abbas (Iran) in Q4/2017.

In addition to that joint project, the two partners intend to organize ef-

ficient transport and logistics ser-vices between Kazakhstan, Iran, the CIS and ports on the Caspian Sea.

A KTZ delegation attended a re-cent meeting of heads of railway administrations of the economic cooperation organization and dis-cussed the potential to further de-velop the railway corridor linking Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. (Source: railways.kz, ITJ)

NEWS FROM THE RAILWAY MARKET

China-Russia rail bridge on right trackThe construction of a cross-bor-der rail bridge between China and Russia has moved a step closer to completion because the project’s funding gap has been covered, according to the Chinese govern-ment.

The USD 379 million project bea-ring the name Amur international

rail bridge, will connect Tongjiang in China’s northeastern Heilong-jiang province with Nizhnelenins-koye in Russia’s Jewish autono-mous oblast.

It is expected that the bridge will help unleash the potential of Tong-jiang as a key transportation hub in the region. Construction started

in 2014, but it came to a halt due to the funding problem and construc-tion delays on the Russian side. (Source: Chinadaily, ITJ)

TARIFF POLICY, ADDITIONAL FREIGHT COSTS AND FEES

TurkmenistanBerlin, 25 January 2017

Information No 02-25/38 of the Em-bassy of Turkmenistan in Berlin:

According to the regulations of the Turkmenistan Customs Code, star-ting February 15, 2017, with goods imported for free trade within the country or temporary storage on Turkmenistan territory, the accom-panying documentation of the goods must also contain a copy of the cus-toms declaration of the country of origin.