INTERNATIONAL: The European freight sector needs to take a stronger role in the development of rail links with China in order to ensure that Eurasian rail connections can achieve their full potential, the European Silk Road Summit heard.
David Aloia, Head of Shuttle Net North-East Europe & Vice-President Landbridge China at Hupac, said there needs to be a rethink of ‘New Silk Road’ concepts with Europeans bringing more of their experience to the table.
He suggested European companies are good at developing networks of services, which can complement the point-to-point trunk routes which have been created by Chinese companies but which can currently suffer from a lack of domestic links.
‘Co-ordination between Europe and China is not as big as should be’, said Aloia. ‘That’s a very big mistake.’
He said two immediate problems need to be addressed: scheduling services to improve efficiency, and tackling the number of eastbound empty movements which ‘has to be fixed very, very soon.’
‘China is sending trains without a proper schedule, without a proper timetable’, he said, which is causing problems at border crossings. Solutions such as additional tracks and new routes are expensive and can be fraught with difficulties around sovereignty, and a cheaper option is for ‘China and Europe to sit together and talk together’.
