European Railroad Discussion > Trans-Siberian Railway

From 12/24/2007 Los Angeles Times

Tapping the potential of the Siberian railway

Firms see the Russian route as an alternative for shipping goods from Asia to Europe.
By Miriam Elder, Financial Times
December 24, 2007
Crisscrossing the vast terrain of Russia's heartland lies 5,600 miles of railway directly linking the booming Chinese market with producers and consumers in Europe eight to 10 time zones away.

Yet the trans-Siberian railway, pride of the czars who built it and the Soviets who expanded it, suffers from a lack of investment and the bureaucratic tangles that are a hallmark of doing business in Russia.

Even so, private rail operators in Russia are eager to tap into the railway's potential as a strategic alternative to the increasingly crowded shipping lanes that provide the cheapest and most reliable route for goods heading between east and west.

"Rail is something that could be significantly preferential over other types of transport, as it's quite precise," said Izi Karasu, director of logistics at Procter & Gamble Co. in Russia.

"If the products get loaded and there are no issues at the border, you get the goods in good time."

Industry analysts estimate that the rail journey from Asia to Europe through Russia could cut transit time to less than half. It takes an average of 45 days to ferry goods from Asia through the Suez Canal and Mediterranean Sea and on to European ports. The trans-Siberian railway could, in theory, cut travel time from Asian ports to Finland to 15 days.

Boosted by annual gross domestic product growth of 7%, its coffers flush with windfall oil profit, the Kremlin has made infrastructure a priority this election year. President Vladimir V. Putin has given his blessing to a huge reform program by Russian Railways, the state monopoly known by its Russian acronym RZD.

This will involve sinking more than $500 billion into the aging rail network to modernize tracks, build 12,400 miles of lines and buy 1 million freight cars by 2030.

Capitalizing on the country's location between Asia and Europe is crucial.

Vladimir Yakunin, RZD's president and a longtime Putin ally, said at a recent industry conference that "integration into the global transport system will allow us to use our unique geographic position to build a transcontinental bridge."

Yet that integration is a long way off, analysts say, pointing to such things as bureaucratic inefficiencies and failure to coordinate regional authorities in Russia, and to the fact that the much-touted investment program has yet to be delivered.

"We are of course aware of the fact that the trans-Siberian railway might offer an attractive alternative," said Joerg Schreiber, head of Mazda Motor Corp.'s Russia office. "However, practical implementation meets many obstacles, such as weather conditions and the availability of suitable rail carriages."

Mazda prefers to use shipping lanes from Asia, and moves goods within Russia by truck, he said.

Tariffs and customs procedures remain cumbersome and unpredictable, with goods waiting for border clearance from two days to two weeks and beyond. Coordination is lacking among rail operators, ports and regional officials.

A planned joint venture between RZD and Germany's Deutsche Bahn to set up a 50-50 owned logistics company, totaling nearly $1.5 million of investment, was due to be signed by the end of the year but may be delayed.

And although plans to extend the trans-Siberian railway to South Korea and North Korea -- and even Japan -- have long been discussed, no concrete progress has been made.

"There is a lack of coordination for the entire chain," said Eduard Faritov, transport analyst at Renaissance Capital, a Moscow-based investment bank. "If 18 million containers are shipped yearly from Asia to Europe, the entire number of containers inside Russia is one-tenth of that."

The potential is there. The trackage for the most part is in place. The red tape, lack of coordination, customs issues, and other logistical obstacles can be overcome with vision,commitment and lots of $$$$$.

Any US companies and/or railroads willing to invest in the Trans-Siberian RR? At this time, I really don't think so.

Ed Burkhardt of Wisconsin Central fame had the Estonian line with ex-Union Pacific C36-7s roaming the countryside. He cut it loose for some of the same reasons stated above.

SantaFeRuss

mgwsy1978 Wrote:
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> The only way this would be viable would be with
> the support of North America, Asia , and Europe
> together along with financial backing of all the
> countries to. Will this ever happen , Doubtful but
> you never know I can see a highway being built
> over the Bering Strait quicker then a Railroad.
> Even then your still looking at a 50 to 60 mile
> long tunnel or bridge in one of the harshest
> environments in the world. Not to mention the
> infrastructure improvements that would be needed
> in Alaska and The Soviet Republic. On top of that
> Ships used between The West Coast and China are
> more economical then trains as some of the new
> ships can carry thousands of containers and at the
> rate the American Dollar is going pretty soon
> Chinese labor will not be as much cost effective
> as it use to be.



The original post is refering to the Trans-Siberian Railway from China through Russia to Europe. Not a railway line across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska.

SantaFeRuss

SantaFeRuss Wrote:
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> Ed Burkhardt of Wisconsin Central fame had the
> Estonian line with ex-Union Pacific C36-7s roaming
> the countryside. He cut it loose for some of the
> same reasons stated above.
>

The C36-7s had several major issues, one of which is their weight. The railways of ex-USSR, with the notable exception of clearances, are built mostly to European standards. The locomotives and cars, despite their North American-like size, are actually light-footed, while the C36s were anything but.

Strangely, when you look at maps, the shortest route from the production areas of China that typically fill containers to the markets of Eastern Russia and Europe is via the Chinese Rwy system via Urumqui then thru Kazakhstan then into Russia. This route avoids most of the Trans-Siberian Rwy as it splits into two then three routes west of Omsk. There is a gauge change at the border at Druzba. The most logical way to accomplish this is a container transfer station to move the boxes from cars of one gauge to another. Small scale facilites like this already exist there.

The Trans-Sib already handles significat container traffic from the port of Nakhodka on the sea of Japan. I do not know if this includes China traffic brought up by coastal shipping. I do think there are some boxes from Japan and Korea. However, I do not see how container trains traveling that great distance can make much money until the Russians start operating trains longer than the traditional one kilometer or find a way to doublestack under their caternary.

I forgot to add that so far the Russian's have not sought any foreign invstment in their trunk line railways. Unlike in North America, where most of the population is ignorant of their railroads, in Russia they are considered absolutely critical and essential for national unity.