1. This year is declared the Year of Railways in the EU. How will this affect Trans-Eurasian transit? What are the key advantages of rail transport in this regard?
The EU’s declaration of 2021 as the Year of Railways is not accidental. It is a trend that has developed in practice.
Of all the modes of transportation, rail proved to be the most resilient to the economic consequences caused by quarantine measures due to the pandemic. The shutdown of production, closure of air services, disruption of schedules, and high freight rates in maritime transport have led to global changes in the supply chain of goods. The redistribution of cargo flows by type of transport was in favor of rail transport.
Its key advantages are obvious, i.e. competitive delivery times and tariffs, and environmental friendliness. Therefore, according to expert data, the railway sector accounts for the smallest share of losses due to the pandemic in the transport sector. And according to the same estimates, rail transport has every chance of a faster recovery compared to others.
And, of course, given this, as well as the EU’s Green Deal, most railway companies welcomed the European Commission’s proposal to declare 2021 the Year of Railways in Europe.
Key issues for discussion and decision-making at the level of international organizations will be issues related to the development of the European railway network on such topics as noise reduction in railway transport, social issues of the railway community, promotion of railway transport in the international tourism market, latest innovations and their implementation, safety in railway transport, cross-border transport, and the environment.
The environmental benefits of rail transport will be achieved through the use of electrification of networks and switching to electric traction, which will eliminate emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere and reduce soil pollution with heavy metals.
Addressing these issues will certainly contribute to improving the competitiveness of rail transport and further increasing the volume of containerized cargo transported on Trans-Eurasian routes.
2. At the dawn of the development of Trans-Eurasian railway cargo transportation, the optimal scenario was considered to be the transfer of about 3-4% of cargo in transit in the China-Europe-China direction to the railway. Today, according to a number of estimates, this indicator has already reached the level of 6-8%, and the goal for the future is 10% of the market. Are these estimates realistic?
Practice shows that they are realistic.
Important for attracting new customers is the price component for transit, modern, and convenient technological solutions, adaptation to market changes, the development of door-to-door transportation, and the development of points of sale and points of consolidation of goods both in Europe and China.
The technology of organizing regular container trains on routes through Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus made it possible to switch the products of the world’s leading automotive industry concerns to rail transport. Currently, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, and Range Rover cars are transported by rail from Europe to China on the route through Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus, as well as Volvo, whose cars are transported in the China-Europe-China direction.
But the main issue on the agenda today is not to pull over, but to cope with, i.e. to be able to transport the increased volume of cargo. And for this, of course, it is necessary to overcome the existing infrastructure restrictions, especially through the border crossings of Makhalino, Grodekovo, Zabaikalsk, and Far Eastern ports.
As it stands, the railway infrastructure may reach its peak load in the near future. And if we do not take decisive measures to increase the capacity, we will not be able to cope with the increase in transit cargo traffic. We are already facing this problem today.
The long-term development program of Russian Railways provides for an increase in the carrying capacity of the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway to 180 million tons by 2024 and to 210 million tons by 2025. The BAM modernization program plans to switch raw materials and release significant reserves to promote accelerated regular container services along the Trans-Siberian Railway and stimulate transit.
The modernization of the infrastructure will not only solve the problem of «bottlenecks» on specific sections of transit routes, but will also facilitate the transfer of significant volumes of cargo to the China-Europe-China route in direct rail and multimodal communications.
It is also worth noting that the achievement of a 10% market share of the China-Europe-China rail transit transport provides for close and coordinated interaction of all participants in the transport process. Joint work should be aimed at the seamless passage of border areas and the creation of infrastructure reserves for transit container trains.
