BRI Middle Corridor: First freight train from China to EU to pass through under Bosphorus

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The China Railway Express, which has entered Turkey in Kars, will reach Europe by passing through the Marmaray tunnel in Istanbul beneath the Bosporus strait on Nov. 6.

Acritical phase of the China-led "Belt and Road Initiative" project, a trillion-dollar infrastructure development project addressing a potential of 3 billion people across 65 countries, is set to be completed in Istanbul. As part of the project, the first train service, or "Iron Silk Road," will be launching from China to Europe. The China Railway Express, which has already entered Turkey via the eastern province of Kars, will reach Europe by passing through the Marmaray tunnel which connects Istanbul's Asian and European sides beneath the Bosporus Strait on Nov. 6.

The train, which will be the first Chinese freight train to pass through the Marmaray, departed from China and entered Turkey thanks to the "Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR)" train line.

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The block container train services are set to arrive from Xi'an, China, entering Turkey via the province of Kars, after traveled through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Train will pass below the Bosphorus via the Marmaray tunnel, would go on to Prague, passing through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia.

The minister added that the first uninterrupted freight train ride from China to Europe would also go down in history as the first freight train to reach Europe through the Marmaray. Offering further details on the train route, Turhan stated that the train would pass through the Turkish towns and cities of Ahılkelek, Kars, Erzurum, Erzincan, Sivas, Kayseri, Kırıkkale, Ankara, Eskişehir, Kocaeli, Istanbul (Marmaray) and Kapıkule (Edirne).

The Edirne-Kars project, set to be integrated into the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway passing through Turkey, will form one of the pillars of the "One Belt One Road" project. As part of the project, the Halkalı-Kapıkule Railway Line project was signed with a record 275 million euros in grants from the EU to Turkey this summer, as an important part of the railway route spanning from London to Beijing. With the project's load-carrying capacity, goods and loads coming from Europe can be distributed within the country without entering Istanbul. Under the "Maritime Silk Road project," of which Turkey is a partner, goods will also be transported to ports in Turkey by ship. Turkey will serve as the entry terminal for the Silk Road to European markets via Ambarlı in the maritime route project, which attests to around 30% of the global economy.

From Beijing to London

The One Belt One Road project will all for trains departing from Beijing will have uninterrupted access all the way to London for the first time. The project will provide an important geo-strategic and commercial alternative to U.S.-focused Atlantic power, allowing for the greater shift of resources to the East. The central corridor of the One Belt One Road Project, which is expected to be completed by 2049, is being referred to as a modern version of the historic Silk Road. China and other countries in the region are scheduled to invest $8 trillion in the project, while the agreement between China and Turkey envisions a budget of $40 billion to allow for extra trade routes.

With the project announced in 2013 by China, which is adapting to the free market economy, Chinese goods passing through the rail and sea transportation network, will reach other Asian countries, Europe and Africa in a shorter time. Furthermore, Turkey is set to gain foremost from the project thanks to its geographical position. Located in the "middle corridor" of the project, Turkey will connect Beijing and London in the most cost-effective way. The project, which will enable fast transportation from Europe to China, will significantly reduce transportation costs for trade going in both directions.

The main objective of the project, whose main pillars constitute the "Silk Road Economy Belt" and "Maritime Silk Road," is to connect China to Central Asia, Russia and Europe over land, and to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean by sea, through the Indian Ocean. The project has been envisioned to create an alternative to the Western and U.S.-centric global economy, will establish Eurasia-based transportation and trade infrastructure and a China and Asia-centric trade network.

The project is supported by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which is based in China but has international stakeholders, as well as the Silk Road Fund. The project has overseen Chinese capital flow to developing countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan, in an attempt to create a win-win situation and an alternative to Western capital. The project consists of significant transportation projects such as that currently gaining attention in Turkey.

link: https://www.dailysabah.com/business...a-to-europe-to-pass-through-marmaray-on-nov-6

 

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Ankara pass opened for China train

The China-Turkey-Europe train passed through Ankara, which kept closed to freight traffic for a long time.

The China train had departed from Xian two weeks ago and had entered Turkey using Baku-Tbilisi-Kars line last week. There’ll be a ceremony on 5th of November at Halkali. Train is not only the first train from China to Europe via Turkey, but also the first transit freigt train passing through Marmaray tunnel.

China train has also been the first freight train passing through Ankara, which was kept closed for a long time. The container train which is running from Xian region of China to Prag terminal of Czechia had crossed Ankara on 28th of October.

This is the first commercial freight train going through Ankara pass. Due to Baskentray project, freight trains were not allowed to pass Ankara since July 2016. The freight trains running between east and west of Ankara had been using Konya route for more than 3 years.

link: https://railturkey.org/2019/10/30/ankara-pass-opened-for-china-train/

A passage to Europe
November 04 2019, By GÜVEN SAK

Let me start with a bit of wonderful news: Next Tuesday, Nov. 6, the Chang’an Cargo Train (a.k.a. China Railway Express) is to make a short stop in Ankara. It is then going to pass under the Bosphorus, using the Marmaray tunnel. This is going to be the first direct cargo train traveling from Xian, China, to Europe, arriving at Prague passing through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. At long last, the Turkish corridor to Europe is becoming operational.

On this occasion, I have three positive and one negative point in mind regarding the Asian transformation that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which President Xi Jinping, is heralding.

First, the BRI is about changing the hardware of international trade. All the talk about the U.S.-China trade war is about software, about WTO rules, customs tariffs and non-tariff barriers. There is absolutely no discussion among the international community about the hardware of international trade. There’s nothing on the logistics infrastructure for cross border trade, roads, railroads, ports, and container terminals. Even talking about security along trade routes has a 19th century sound to it. It’s almost as if technical issues aren’t worth talking about, because they’re on autopilot anyway. This is a huge fallacy.

Look at the facts. When it comes to international trade, you first need to go West in order to get to the East or visit north every time you go south. In order to send our containers to Pakistan, we in Turkey first need to send them to either Copenhagen or Hamburg. Why? That’s where the large container ports serving the East are located. The hardware of international trade is as important as the software of international trade, if you ask me.

To be absolutely clear, I don’t think this is a sinister device to prolong Western domination. It’s just history. In the past, production centers were located in the West and the goods were then shipped to the East. No more. In the last 50 years, the share of China in global manufacturing has increased from less than 10 percent to more than 25 percent. Countries in the West like the U.S., France, Germany and Italy have seen their shares decline, while those in the east, like Korea, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Turkey have seen their shares rise.

Yet the hardware of international trade remains Western-focused. The BRI is the first attempt to change this. It’s all about south-south connectivity, and Chinese leadership to make this happen is good for Turkey.

Second, the BRI is not only about attracting Chinese investment, it provides a vision for the newly industrialized countries of the east. Note that it’s not about one huge project connecting China to Europe, but a collection of national projects, all contributing to the same objective.

Chang’an Cargo Train, for example, is to pass under the Bosphorus using the Marmaray tunnel, which was completed by a Japanese-Turkish consortium in 2008. It is not only a rail tunnel to connect Europe to Asia, but also a Turkish contribution to the BRI. Good things happen when people come around a common vision for the future.

Third, the Chang’an Cargo train is also useful in dealing with problems at each border crossing, as the rules and ease of border crossing changes from one country to another. In this respect, the BRI is about the integration of Asia into the global economy. Once Asia has the hardware of trade, it will also get to learn about software integration, as the West has done in the past century.

Here, however, is my cautionary point: The BRI is also about the integration of the Muslim world into the global economy. If the 20th century is about China’s integration into the global economy, the 21st century will be known as the Muslim world’s integration. This is all thanks to President Xi’s BRI vision. However, regarding the integration of Muslims into the global economy, China is still not leading, but obstructing progress.

Let me be blunt: China’s treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjian is direct support to Salafi radicalization in the whole Muslim world. It is nothing short of the atrocities in Bosnia as a recruitment item. Jihadists looking for fresh recruits are probably overjoyed to see that the Chinese state is cracking down on their co-religionists.

Turkey, which has been doing its utmost to deal with ISIL, is one of many countries gravely concerned about this, but like others, it is refrained to speak up. This is unfortunate. We are in a war for Muslim minds, and if we fail to deal with this direct terrorist threat to our common values, we will lose many more battles.

link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/guven-sak/a-passage-to-europe-148265

 

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