Russia Railwatch:Euroasian landbridge - Beijing-Hamburg

[jpatokal]

Seriously cool pics:

http://www.funmansion.com/html/Underground-City.html

[doseiai]

Pic of Russia's High Speed train....

http://www.siemens.com/index.jsp?sdc_p=fmls5uo1456356ni1075924pcz3&sdc_bcpath=1327899.s_5,1047890.s_5,1176441.s_5,&sdc_sid=28109986908&

and info:

http://www.transportation.siemens.com/ts/en/pub/newsline/newsline/press_2007/2007/20_07_2007.htm

If only Bangkok had a high speed rail visa run! :cool: Let's see at 250 kph, Bangkok to Aranyaprathet would take an hour and a half!! I should keep dreaming...

[jpatokal]

Actually, the train in question is neither Russian nor new, it's just the trusty old Siemens Velaro (aka ICE3) with a lick of paint and broad gauge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Velaro

I'm glad to see the project moving forward though, Moscow-St. Pete is a route with huge potential. There's also an ongoing project (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Karelian+Trains+orders+express+Pendolinos+from+Als tom+for+Helsinki-St+Petersburg+route/1135230092715) to upgrade the Helsinki-St. Pete link to allow 220 km/h Pendolinos (http://www.alstom.com/pr_corp_v2/2007/corp/44990.EN.php?languageId=EN&dir=/pr_corp_v2/2007/corp/&idRubriqueCourante=23132) by 2010, and even some (unlikely) visions (http://www.rhk.fi/@Bin/1831467/heli_suunnittelualue.jpeg) of a "real" 250-300 km/h high-speed link, as the current track doesn't follow the coastline but instead detours inland. (Finland and Russia both use broad gauge.)

[GWR]

Scroll down some before you come to the conclusion that this link ONLY shows an interesting example of Russian riverbarge transport. Awesome!:

http://englishrussia.com/?p=1676#more-1676

We had already a Russian on-ground ferry that helps some passenger cars to pass the hardest parts of Russian roads.

This is also an on-ground ferry but for some completely different purpose. It helps the big river boats to cross the big dam on their way by… putting the big river boat on some sort of a train and transfer it a few miles on ground. Look down for the pictures, personally I was fascinated with such an approach!

http://englishrussia.com/images/from_river_to_river/20.jpg
[http://englishrussia.com]

[Yappofloyd]

The first container

There has been talk of starting this service for years so good to see that it has finally happened! 15 days compares very well to shipping.

Train tests Eurasian Landbridge - Railway Gazette 30/01/08
A CONTAINER train arrived in Hamburg on the morning of January 24 after a 15-day, 9 954 km journey from Beijing through Mongolia, Russia, Belarus and Poland.

The train was a demonstration for the 'Eurasian Landbridge' proposed by the six national rail operators, which have agreed to develop a competitive alternative to sea and air freight between China and western Europe.

'We want to demonstrate that we can get a train like this one to its destination fast, safely and reliably under real-life conditions', said DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn at the departure from Beijing.

Regular services could start within a year, and are expected to have a journey time of 15 to 18 days from China to Germany. This would be 'twice as fast as a sea-going vessel' and 'considerably cheaper' than air freight, according to DB Board Member Norbert Bensel, who cautioned that many issues still needed to be resolved, including accelerating customs formalities.

On January 11 DB and Indian Railways agreed to undertake feasibility studies for the development of multi-modal freight logistics facilities serving major population centres in India.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2008/01/8127/train_tests_eurasian_landbridge.html

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/images/attachement/jpg/site1/20080110/000802ab4a6308ef931506.jpg