Migros tests the land bridge from China to Europe ...

St. Gallen, 16th August. The Chinese Railways and its container company CRIMT actively support the exploration of a land bridge from China to Europe by major international companies. Now Migros, the leading retail trade group in Switzerland, has begun to test the “new Silk Road” from China to Europe together with the international rail service provider InterRail, also based in Switzerland, with the strong support of the CRIMT container transport.

Migros belongs to those companies, which place great emphasis on innovation and environmentally friendly actions. It pays special attention to this in the area of logistics, too. With more than 400 rail waggons a day, Migros is the main customer of SBB Cargo in Switzerland. When looking for solutions in logistical requirements, Migros places great emphasis on the use of rail transport, also in its activities abroad.

With over 86‘000 employees, Migros today is one of the most innovative companies in Europe. In the event of a successful closing of the tests, its interest in the land bridge could give a boost to rail transportation towards Europe. The fact that Swiss television accompanies these test transports by way of a documentary shows how important these are for other interested parties in Europe as well.

The test-run, giving information on technological processes and organisation of the container rail transport across a vast distance of approx. 12’000 km through five countries, started on 7th June in Shanghai. 

Bernhard Metzger, Manager of Logistics Transport and Member of the Management of Migros, and Hans Reinhard, Chairman of the Board of the InterRail Group, both personally supervised the loading of the first 40‘ HC container at the local rail terminal. 

They were impressed by the efficiency of the Chinese Railway. The time it took for transport of the container from Shanghai in the South-Eastern part of the country to Alashankou on the Chinese-Kazakh border was only nine days. 

This comparatively short time frame for one single container was made possible thanks to CRIMT’s cooperation. 

In principle, CRIMT handled this single container as if it were a block train, whereby even the temporary suspension of freight acceptance for single containers in Alashankou was irrelevant.

The first test, which focussed mainly on documentation as well as on the interface technology at standard/broad/standard gauges, has meanwhile been concluded successfully. The container arrived safely and with satisfactory results in Switzerland. The second 40’ test container will start its railway journey towards Europe in Shanghai now at the beginning of August.

During the test phase, each party is keeping a low profile as to where in China the Europeans intend to produce and from where they will require such a train to travel back to Switzerland. 

For InterRail, which already has extensive experience with regard to Eurasian rail traffic, the Central Asia and North-Western China regions would be the most attractive routes for a land bridge towards Europe from China via Kazakhstan and Russia. 

For example, one favourite here could be Chengdu in the Sichuan province.

Brief information on Migros:

Migros was founded by Gottlieb Duttweiler in 1925. It has ten regional cooperatives with over 600 shops and is clearly number 1 in Swiss retail trade. The Migros Group has more than 100 companies with over 86’000 employees and an annual turnover of approx. CHF 25.5 billion.


Brief information on InterRail:

The InterRail Group with its headquarters in St. Gallen / Switzerland is a leading European service provider for railway based logistics. The product portfolio includes assistance of rail transport services as well as intermodal transportation in the C.I.S., Iran, Central Asia, China and Europe.

Source: http://goo.gl/tnXuM