An alternative on the New Silk Road: East-West interface

摘要

Railfreight transport solutions along the New Silk Road are booming. In 2020 alone, the number of goods trains travelling between China and Europe increased by 50%, compared to the previous year; the figure thus broke through the barrier of 10,000 journeys for the first time. According to China Railways, a total of 12,400 trains travelled on the routes between China and Europe last year. However, the further growth of railfreight transport on the New Silk Road is increasingly coming up against limits. One of the main bottlenecks on these routes are presented by transhipment terminals in Poland and Belarus, where most east-west traffic is handled. These gateways operate practically at maximum capacity. Thus the enterprise East-West Inter-modal Logistics Service is now building a new intermodal terminal in Fenyeslitke (Hungary). New capacities for container handling are coming up on a 125 ha site there. The options for transfers from rail to rail or between truck and rail will cost around EUR 61 million to build. There will additionally be storage areas and facilities for various terminal services.