Reviving the ancient Silk Road trade train route

On Wednesday 18 January 2017 the East Wind locomotive will arrive in London, reviving the ancient Silk Road trade train route. The East Wind freight train will have 34 carriages and have crossed eight countries and 7,456 miles (12,000 kilometres).

The train will be the first to make the 16-day journey from Yiwu in China to Barking in the United Kingdom, not only reviving the Silk Trading Route, but also reviving UK-China relations. It is part of China’s One Belt, One Road policy – designed to open up the old Silk Road routes and bring new trade opportunities to the country, and to the countries along the way.

The train, which left on 2 January 2017, will pass through China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France before crossing under the Channel and arriving in the east end of London at Barking rail freight terminal.

Faster than a ship, cheaper than a plane, the East Wind will travel on differing rail gauges in countries along the route meaning that a single locomotive cannot travel the whole route. However, the journey with the new train, will start to run weekly during the pilot phase.

China Railway has already begun rail services to 14 European cities, including Madrid and Hamburg. As a result, Yiwu’s markets are now loaded with hams, cheese and wine from Spain and German beer is available on every corner.

This is the first train to the United Kingdom. Yiwu is a gigantic bazaar, where traders from all over the world congregate. The goods brought to Britain by the East Wind are not as exotic as the peacocks and gemstones that were once transported along the Silk Road, which ran through Europe and Eurasia in around 200 BC.

The name of the train, the East Wind is a reference to the Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who said: “The east wind will prevail over the west wind.”

The original Silk Route was the Silk Road – through China, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Russia, Iraq, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Syria, Turkey, and into Mediterranean countries. In 2014 UNESCO designated the Chang’an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).