BSS, Kunming :
The capital of China’s Yunnan province, Kunming, plans to be the regional railway container hub, connecting most of the countries in Asia and South Asia with major European states. Kunming is making a great step forward to achieve its target, with China Railway Joint International Container Company (CRJIC) launching a direct container train service on July 2, connecting the provincial capital with Munich, Germany.
The container service will go through Kazakhstan, Russia and Poland to take containers from Kunming to Munich – the third largest city in Germany and the capital city of the Bavaria state.
“Initially, the containers will go directly from Kunming to Munich and will carry goods from China”, Xu Chao, the manager at the technology department of the Kunming railway container centre of CRJIC, told a group of visiting journalists from Asia and South Asia.
He said the container service would only have technical stopovers at Kazakhstan, Russia and Poland, but there will be no loading or unloading at this stage. These countries will get fees according to the contracts, already signed with them.
Chao, however, said that the exporters and importers from other countries could use the container service for carrying their goods in between Kunming and Munich.
He said the container train would take 12 days to go to Munich while ships take 20 days for the service. “So, this will be cheaper and the service will be more efficient for foreign trade”.
He said the CRJIC has 17 other centres across China, but the Kunming container centre is the most functioning centre among Yunnan province railway container freight facilities.
Besides the new container train, Kunming will have a high speed passenger train service, which will connect Kunming with other mega cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai. The train service will have the capacity of carrying 1.28 lakh passengers daily, Yunnan railway officials said.
