Trans-Asian Railway

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates The Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) is a project to create an integrated freight railway network across Europe and Asia. The project is of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

The project was initiated in the 1950s, with the objective of providing a continuous Template:Convert rail link between Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey, with possible further connections to Europe and Africa. At the time shipping and air travel were not as well developed, and the project promised to significantly reduce shipping times and costs between Europe and Asia. Progress in developing the TAR was hindered by political and economic obstacles throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. By the 1990s, the end of the Cold War and normalisation of relations between some countries improved the prospects for creating a rail network across the Asian continent.Template:Citation needed

The TAR was seen as a way to accommodate the huge increases in international trade between Eurasian nations and facilitate the increased movements of goods between countries. It was also seen as a way to improve the economies and accessibility of landlocked countries like Laos, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and the Central Asian republics.

Much of the railway network already exists as part of the Eurasian Land Bridge, although significant gaps remain. A big challenge is the differences in rail gauge across Eurasia. Four major rail gauges (which measures the distance between rails) are in use across the continent: most of Europe, as well as Turkey, Iran, China, and the Koreas use the Template:RailGauge gauge, known as Standard gauge; Russia and the former Soviet republics use a [[5 ft and 1520 mm gauge railways|Template:RailGauge gauge]]; Finland uses a Template:RailGauge gauge, both known as Russian gauge; the railways in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka use the Template:RailGauge gauge, known as Indian gauge; and most of Southeast Asia has Template:RailGauge metre gauge. For the most part the TAR would not change national gauges; mechanized transfer facilities would be built to transload shipping containers from train to train at the breaks of gauge.Template:Citation needed

Routes

By 2001, four corridors had been studied:

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File:Kunming-Singapore.png
Connections in Southeast Asia, built (black), projected (yellow) and yet to open (red).

Agreement

The Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement is an agreement signed on 10 November 2006,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> by seventeen Asian nations as part of a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) effort to build a transcontinental railway network between Europe and Pacific ports in China.<ref name="VietNamNet">Template:Cite news</ref> The plan has sometimes been called the "Iron Silk Road" in reference to the historical Silk Road trade routes.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> UNESCAP's Transport & Tourism Division began work on the initiative in 1992 when it launched the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development project.<ref name="UNESCAP 2005">Template:Cite web</ref>

The agreement formally came into force on 11 June 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Network

The Trans-Asian Railway system will consist of four main railway routes. The existing Trans-Siberian Railway, which connects Moscow to Vladivostok, will be used for a portion of the network in Russia.Template:Cn Another corridor to be included will connect China to Korea, Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2003, the president of Kazakhstan proposed building a standard gauge link from Dostyk (on the Chinese border) to Gorgan in Iran; it has not yet been built.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Standards

File:World RR Gauge Map.agr.png
Map of the world's railways showing the different gauges in use. Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:SpaceTemplate:Legend inline Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

Complicating the plan is the differences in rail gauges currently in use across the continent. While China, Iran, Laos and Turkey use Template:RailGauge tracks, tracks of Russia and Central Asia are gauged at Template:RailGauge. In South Asia, India's and Pakistan's tracks are gauged at Template:RailGauge. In South East Asia, the tracks of Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia are Template:RailGauge with some dual gauge tracks near the China–Vietnam border and within Bangladesh, and tracks in Indonesia and Japan are mostly Template:RailGauge gauge.<ref name="UNESCAP 2005" /> This leads to time-consuming interchanges or transloading to handle the break of gauge at main connecting points in the network.

Other standards to consider include allowing for interoperability:

Participating nations

Transportation and railway ministers from forty one nations participated in the week-long conference<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> held in Busan, South Korea, where the agreement was formulated. The proposed 80,900-km railway network will originate from the Pacific seaboard of Asia and end on the doorsteps of Europe. The agreement's cosigners included the following participating countries:<ref name="VietNamNet" />

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The 28 countries that did not sign the agreement at the conference had until 31 December 2007, to join and ratify the agreement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 5 May 2007, officials in Bangladesh announced that the nation will sign on to the agreement at an upcoming meeting in New York City. The plan for the network includes three lines between India and Myanmar that traverse Bangladesh.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> India made a similar announcement on 17 May 2007. As part of the agreement, India will build and rehabilitate rail links with neighboring Myanmar in projects that are estimated to cost more than Template:Indian Rupee 29.41 billion (US$730 million).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bangladesh finally signed the agreement on 10 November 2007.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

India's Look-East connectivity policy has resulted in the launch of several connectivity projects with China and ASEAN nations.

Progress

The Northern Corridor was in operation as early as the 1960s, although at first only for Soviet Union-China trade. The Southern corridor has progressively opened up after 2000. Successes so far include:

Northern Line

  • Rail link from China to Kazakhstan (Turkestan–Siberia Railway and Lanxin railway, with break-of-gauge) has been completed since 1990, allowing cargo services such as Yiwu–London and Chongqing–Xinjiang–Europe lines
  • Second link from China to Kazakhstan (line Zhetigen–Khorgos, completed in December 2011).
  • Direct freight service between Germany and China through Russia and Mongolia or Kazakhstan, operating from the first decade of the 2000s (transloading of container at break-of-gauge).

Southern Line

Southeast Asia

North–South Transport Corridor

See also

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References

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