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A) Feasibility
Study on Connecting Rail Networks of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia,
the Russian Federation and the Korean Peninsula (1995)
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the end of the
Cold War and the bright prospects for rapid economic growth in the
countries of North East Asia fuelled interest in developing the
land transport network bridging Asia and Europe. The Asia-Europe
container traffic being transported by sea was already a booming
trade, and it seemed that the railways could capture some of this
market as they could potentially offer better transit times than
shipping. With the generous support of the Governments of France
and the Republic of Korea, ESCAP conducted a feasibility study on
connecting the rail networks of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the
Russian Federation and the Korean Peninsula (ST/ESCAP/1663; 1996).
The study:
(i) defined a network of routes making up the TAR Northern Corridor
(TAR-NC)
(ii) stipulated routes requirements in terms of technical indicators
(loading gauge and axle-load) and commercial indicators (minimum
average speed)
(iii) dealt with operational aspects including tariff issues, and
(iv) stressed the importance of cross-border traffic facilitation
measures.
The findings and recommendations of the study were
considered by the representatives of all the countries concerned
during a Policy-level Expert Group Meeting held in Bangkok in October
1995. The conclusions from the study led to the development of a
follow-up project “Development of Asia-Europe Container Transport
through Block Trains - Phase I”, conducted in 1998 and 1999.
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| B) Development
of Asia-Europe Rail Container Transport through Block-trains - Northern
Corridor of the Trans-Asian Railway (1999-2002)
Following the findings of the feasibility study,
the objective of this project was to determine the tasks that need
to be implemented by the relevant authorities of participating countries
to make their railway services attractive to shippers. Specifically,
this involved determining the required package of transit times,
tariffs and level of services needed to compete against the shipping
lines.
In cooperation with the participating countries,
Belarus, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Germany,
Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Poland, Republic of Korea, and the Russian
Federation, and the Organization for Railways Cooperation (OSJD),
and with the generous support of the Government of the Republic
of Korea, a study was conducted which
(i) described the routes concerned,
(ii) evaluated current container traffic between North / Northeast
Asia and Europe and looked at the potential distribution of volumes
along the different routes making up TAR-NC,
(iii) reviewed the criteria by which shippers/freight forwarders
will decide to commit their goods to rail, and
(iv) looked at the technical and organizational practices on which
the railways on one hand, the railways and the customs administrations
and other parties concerned on the other hand, need to agree ahead
of actual demonstration runs and commercial services.
The findings and recommendations of the study were
considered by the representatives of all the countries concerned
during a Policy-level Expert Group Meeting held in Bangkok in February
2000. This Meeting adopted the objectives of Phase II of the project,
including a time-related action plan to organise demonstration runs
along all the routes in the corridor.
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