The Trans-Asian Railway evokes the Silk Road of centuries
past, are there any similarities?
Much as yesterday’s Silk Road
(see Wikipedia,
the free Encyclopedia), today’s
Trans-Asian Railway aims to serve cultural exchanges and
trade within Asia and between Asia and Europe. However,
the network covers a much wider territory than its mythical
predecessor and, needless to say, reaches a much bigger
population.
What does the current Trans-Asian
Railway network represent?
The Trans-Asian Railway is a network
of 81,000 kilometers of lines serving 28 UNESCAP countries.
It starts on the Pacific seaboard of Asia and ends on the
doorstep of Europe.
How did the routes of the
network gain their international recognition as Trans-Asian
Railway lines?
The lines selected to be part of the
Trans-Asian Railway had to serve the network’s primary
objective to be a tool for international trade. As a result,
countries of the region agreed that these lines had to link
or provide access to (i) capital cities; (ii) main industrial
and agricultural centres; (iii) major air, sea and river
ports; and (iv) major container terminals and depots.
What benefits can Asia and
its people expect from a Trans-Asian Railway network?
By helping business, efficient rail transport will mean
more competitive economies for the region and, therefore,
more job opportunities for its citizens. By providing reliable
services over large distances, railway companies will bring
to populations in remote areas standards of living equal
to those found in larger urban areas. By carrying consumer
products, trains will allow people a wider range of options
in their daily lives. Most importantly, rail transport is
a friend of the earth and all these benefits will materialize
without damaging the environmental heritage of the region.
When was the Trans-Asian Railway
project initiated?
The Trans-Asian Railway project was
initiated in the early 1960s with the objective of providing
a continuous 14,000-km rail link between Singapore and Istanbul
(Turkey), with possible onward connections to Europe and
Africa.
How did the project progress
through its nearly 50 years of existence?
The ambitious project proved popular
from its very start. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, a
number of conflicts as well as more limited international
economic exchanges came in the way of concrete actions towards
its realization.
A more favourable environment came in the 1980s and early
1990s, with the return of peace to South-East Asia, the
emergence of independent countries in the Caucasus and Central
Asia, and the adoption of market-oriented economic principles
in many countries. This resulted in a growth in international
trade which gave new impetus to infrastructure projects
and green-flagged a new beginning for the Trans-Asian Railway.
What role did UNESCAP play
in reviving the Trans-Asian Railway?
Recognizing the sudden growth in international
trade and the pressure that this was putting on the region’s
transport infrastructure, the 48th session of UNESCAP Commission
(April 1992) launched the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure
Development (ALTID) project to improve transport linkages
within Asia as well as between Asia and its main trading
partners in Europe. The project was articulated around three
components, namely: the Asian Highway, the Trans-Asian Railway,
and facilitation of land transport with the objective of
helping countries meet the new transport requirements generated
by globalization. This challenge quickly captured the interest
and imagination of both UNESCAP staff involved as well as
transport officials in the member countries.
How
did UNESCAP implement the Trans-Asian Railway component
of the ALTID project?
The implementation of the Trans-Asian Railway project followed
three closely-linked phases, namely: a phase of network
identification through four corridor
studies (1994-2001), a phase of network
operationalization through the
implementation of demonstration runs of container block-trains
(1997-2005) and a phase of network
formalization through the negotiation
and finalization of the Inter-governmental Agreement on
the Trans-Asian Railway Network (2001-2006).
What were the milestone studies
in identifying the Trans-Asian Railway network?
In 1995, a first study placed on the
Trans-Asian Railway map 32,500 km of lines in China, Kazakhstan,
Mongolia, the Russian Federation and the Korean Peninsula.
A year later, another study added 22,600 km of lines in
Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore,
Thailand and Viet Nam. Then, in 1999, the network gained
another 22,600 km in Bangladesh, India, Islamic Republic
of Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Finally,
in 2001, the current network expanded into the Caucasus
region and Central Asia with another 13,200 km of lines
in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
How did the idea to operate
the network come into being?
The enthusiasm shared in the conduct
of the initial phase fuelled a desire to demonstrate the
capabilities of railways to operate international freight
corridors and define services matching trade patterns. The
growth in the movement of containers within Asia as well
as between Asia and its main trading partners provided an
ideal potential into which to tap. As a result, between
November 2003 and July 2004, a number of railways planned
and operated the four following demonstration
runs of container block-trains: (i)
from the port of Tianjin (China) to Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia),
(ii) from the port of Lianyungang (China) to Almaty (Kazakhstan),
(iii) from Brest (Belarus) to Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), and
(iv) from the port of Nakhodka (Russian Federation) to Malacewicze
(Poland).
What immediate result came
out of these runs?
First, the railways clearly established
their credentials in organizing fast, safe and reliable
movements of time-sensitive cargo over long distances. Second,
success was largely due to greater cooperation among railways,
a better knowledge by railway managers of international
trade patterns arising from globalization, as well as the
deployment of new skills inside railway organizations to
respond to the industry requirements for efficient transport
and logistics services.
What experience have railways
gained in the process?
In planning the runs, railway managers have had useful contacts
with freight forwarders. These contacts have led to a better
understanding of customer’s requirements, and provided
valuable insight into service definition and the market
environment relating to the international movement of containers.
Already, the volumes of containers carried by rail along
certain routes of the Trans-Asian Railway have reached higher
levels and new international container block-train services
have been launched. These services are gaining ever-increasing
popularity with shippers.
How will the formalization
of the Trans-Asian Railway network through an Intergovernmental
Agreement add to this success?
Understandably, railway networks were
primarily designed and operated to serve national priorities.
While domestic transport development remains important,
part of the transport strategy in many countries need to
be re-oriented to give greater attention to international
traffic. With this in mind, countries opted to define a
framework within which they could discuss and plan the future
expansion, upgrading and operation of the Trans-Asian Railway
network. The Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian
Railway Network provides such a framework.
What specific purpose does
the Agreement serve?
The Intergovernmental Agreement on
the Trans-Asian Railway Network and the Intergovernmental
Agreement on the Asian Highway Network that entered into
force on 4 July 2005, are the major building blocks in the
development of the international integrated intermodal transport
system which the region needs in order to meet the growing
challenges of globalization. The idea was first envisioned
by the ministers at the Ministerial Conference on Infrastructure
held in the Republic of Korea in November 2001.
At the Ministerial Conference on Transport (Busan, Republic
of Korea, 6 to 11 November 2006), the ministers adopted
the
Busan Declaration on Transport Development in Asia and the Pacific
in which they recognized that the full benefits of an international
integrated intermodal transport system will not be realized
unless the physical infrastructure issues, including road,
rail, inland waterways, maritime transport, dry ports, airports,
seaports and information and communication technology, as
well as the non-physical issues, including multimodal transport
operations, customs clearance, and banking and other commercial
networks, are addressed comprehensively. By signing the
two Agreements, the ministers laid down the initial stone
in the construction process.
When will the Intergovernmental
Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network come into force?
The Intergovernmental Agreement on
the Trans-Asian Railway Network was finalized by senior
experts from member countries in Bangkok in November 2005.
It was adopted by senior government officials at the 62nd
session of the UNESCAP Commission (Jakarta, Indonesia, 6
to 12 April 2006) and signed on 10 November 2006 during
the Ministerial Conference on Transport (Busan, Republic
of Korea, 6 to 11 November 2006). As per its Article 5,
the Agreement will enter into force 90 days after eight
States have consented to be bound by it. It is hoped that
this will happen during 2007 to coincide with the 60th anniversary
of UNESCAP.
Is the Trans-Asian Railway
also being developed to meet the mobility requirements of
people?
Currently, there is only limited cross-border
traffic of passengers along the routes of the Trans-Asian
Railway network. Given the distances involved, and following
an already emerging pattern in both domestic as well as
international travels, it is likely that passengers travelling
across the region in future will favour either road or air
transport. However, a great number of historical sites are
located along the routes of the Trans-Asian Railway and
Division by rail offers promising business opportunities.
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