'Silk Road' train from China reaches London

A train full of Chinese goods has arrived in London after making a trip halfway across the world.
This is the first freight train from China's Zhejiang province to Britain and it is hoped it will be the start of a new trade route from China, emulating the ancient Silk Road of more than 2,000 years ago.
Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego reports from London.
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[@sipsofhell9018]

THIS IS WHY THERE NEED TO BE WORLD PEACE SO COOL STUFF LIKE THIS IS POSSIBLE

[@stewarthills9344]

I didn't realise the rail system was that well interconnected so as to be able to take a trip from China all the way to the UK.

[@johnniebj]

Stu Wilkes it's only the containers that make the full journey. There's a bit of hype going on here...

[@ruedelta]

It's definitely only the containers right now, but the symbolic gesture is trying to enforce China's previous commitment to turning out a single rail system for the trip. Basically, they're telling us "it's going to happen, just give it time."

[@aison2735]

China is developing the train that can change the distance between wheels

[@DarkLordSauron100]

I thought the Spanish already have variable gauge bogies that can switch between 5'6 and 4'8.5" gauges

[@avcomth]

They had to make two stops, each taking about 8 hours , to change the carriage wheels on this particular toute.

[@ColinsCity]

I've always wanted the Silk Road to re-start, it's great that it has :D

[@007meus]

This is a symbolic end of The British Empire,

[@Joshua123N]

How is that so?

[@007meus]

I mean symbolic, like the British have been cruising round the world on their ships, either wanted or not wanted elsewhere, now the Chinese are coming to the very heart of England on their own train (which is a British invention by the way).

[@Joshua123N]

Alphonse Mephesto You're right...:)

[@brancanorris8933]

Alphonse Mephesto that's probably called karma. China invented gun powder, Britain turned that into bombs n opened up china's gate with it. now China uses Britain invented train drive to the heart of Britain

[@kongwee1978]

It is really the end since the end of colonization. It is new opening to globalization since US give up.

[@barronreed1270]

I am hoping more railroad lines will be opened and there is going to be a trans-Eurasia tour from China to London. Please make this happen.

[@MrDgrt]

A new trend is set. Everyone will follow. Great achievement... 👍👏👏

[@user-nl9yd4mm8r]

It seems that UK relationship with China is really better than US relationship UK expressed AIIB firstly in Europe...

[@11_sohamvaidya53]

No, USA is controlling UK...

[@bobking7454]

This freight train can be accelerated to as much as 7 days(now costs 18 days) from Yiwu to London in the future, which will give railway tremendous advantage compared to shipping by sea or air. Shipping by air costs lots of money and have limited capacity, while shipping by sea costs much more time, usually it takes more than one month from China's Yiwu to London by ship, while railways only takes 15 days, besides, the time costs by railways can be minimized to 7 days in the future, that means more and more fresh food can be transported by train instead of ship in an affordable price, because shipping by air costs a lot for fresh food and shipping by sea may make fresh food decay.

[@DipakBose-bq1vv]

Train links were there even during the Manchu empire, Czarist empire, Prussian empire. What is new in it?

[@laxmihyd]

GOOD, IN FUTURE WE CAN EXPECT PASSENGERS TRAIN ALSO . THIS IS VERY GOOD FOR OUR COUNTRY.

[@aryansaxena3114]

Lakshmi Narayana do you live in UK?

[@LINESTELECOMCORDEDTELEPHONES]

I am looking for a CHINA-INDIA train service

[@kurtilein3]

This makes sense, freight trains are incredibly efficient even if they use diesel fuel. The energy goes into accelerating the train, and then it just rolls with little resistance. All the modern ones are hybrid anyway, in fossil fuel mode they use gas turbines to turn the energy from the burning fuel into torque on an electric generator. The wheels are then driven with electricity. Whenever there is a grid and an overhead power supply, it switches to electric drive, and braking energy is absorbed by the motors, which can also act as generators, and fed back into the grid. Its frighteningly efficient. With a grid, they behave like fully electric cars with full braking recuperation. Without a grid, they use fossil fuels as a range extender, also some braking recuperation, and they use more efficient gas turbines instead of an internal combustion engine. Combine that with very low friction, on rails.

[@moctarbebaha7582]

kurtilein3 kurtilein3 thank you so much, I really needed to know that, it was bugging me how, over such long distances, could this be efficient. That explains it all. It is not as efficient as shipping though is it?

[@kurtilein3]

***** Shipping is increadibly dirty because they use heavy oil, which is unrefined or actualy waste from the refineries, and water has quite a lot of drag. Its cost-effective because in international waters they can be as dirty as they want. Sailing is efficient, it uses no fuel at all, but the big container ships are really dirty.

[@moctarbebaha7582]

very informative. thanks mate

[@GEES44DC]

Maybe in Europe, not in North America. Pure diesel in north america on our freight locomotives. Also, who cares about how dirty something is?? All that matters is the cost and time. Shippers don't care about what type of energy gets their product to the market.

[@kurtilein3]

Why do you hate humanity so much that you want climate change to cause maximum death and destruction? Are you a sociopath?

[@radanju3]

1:30 OMG IS THAT A EMD 710 ENGINE? It's beautiful!

[@iceberglettuce4860]

it too 18 days from china far east to London ! my god, this route is so much shorter then my air parcel I sent to Italy which took almost 30 days normal post.

[@Dazzalinco1]

Trump backing down on trading with foreign nations and china jumping in and filling those spots.

[@MinisterGabe1]

better I move to China to export to online buyers in Europe taking opportunity of this new rail lines . Chinese are thinking forwards future of their people is secured .

[@kongwee1978]

Trading is easy, but not easy opening business in China. Unless you got huge capital.

[@MinisterGabe1]

Kong Wee Peh 200,000 dollars should open a business in China I guess .

[@lugangwang1227]

u may want to corporate with me , i live in a fast growth city named Xi'an. the first stop of this train in China .

[@lugangwang1227]

Dato Temi why not sell Europe products to China, there is huge market here. Everyone is selling staff to China.

[@maxz4274]

high tech goods and safe food are welcome in china as well

[@butthurt6945]

costs 5x cheaper to just send it on a boat

[@ankurjain7125]

For now, and what about most valuable thing, time? From ship it takes 1 month and if train go to it full capacity then goods can be delivered in just 7 days. This means now fresh food can be delivered through this route.

[@aliciohemanes2917]

Egyptian?

[@pikminlord343]

simply amazing.

[@alfredshaw5417]

One hundred years ago, you send your fleet to my home, knocked on the door and sold drugs, now its my turn.

[@shershah9660]

Alfred Shaw But you're not selling drugs though...

[@fanyechao2761]

coz the brits already done that to themselves

[@LINESTELECOMCORDEDTELEPHONES]

I want to know more about China's ancient trading techniques

[@Greggspies]

Suez gets blocked this is the safety valve

[@daokedao123]

Nice move. Now it is time to standardize the rail gauge width. China and Europe using the international standard width(1435mm), but the former USSR countries using a wider width (1500+mm). In the old time, USSR purposely designed a difference standard, in order not letting the invader to us the Russian rails militarily. Now nobody can invade Russia anymore. We shall use the same standard in the continent to promote trade and travels between countries.

[@SungLingsTV]

Hope this can be extended to South Korea via yellow sea (or east sea of China.) it would be good if China and South Korea cooperate and collaborate together to make stunning train station somewhere around Yantai and Incheon.

[@thomas4315]

A train make a lot of sense because weight is of little concern, the right train can pull about a mile of cabs as long as it’s not too steep. And goes one way and return back loaded. A ship mpg are the poorest oil mpg around

[@xinminli7635]

Trade >>>> War!

[@sion8]

That's rather impressive for rail travel. I wonder how possible for an underground tunnel between the Bering strait? So that a service between East Asia and North America could happen.

[@wongho19970617]

sion8 earthquake may happen and damage the trail

[@sion8]

Isaac Wong SONE 윤아 True, but the Bering strait is completely within the North American tectonic plate and not between plates with would be the most dangerous place to build. Now if don't know about plate tectonics just look it up as they are the cause of earthquakes.

[@bbilibili6574]

i want to buy European goods in taobao

[@LINESTELECOMCORDEDTELEPHONES]

b站搬运工 bilibili what is tao bao?

[@luyuchen2544]

@@LINESTELECOMCORDEDTELEPHONES It's the Chinese equivalent for Amazon.

[@SonySony-dj1lm]

china is an emerging superpower. and also responsible super power unlike usa which has now adopted protectionism in trade and exited free world concept

[@hackman669]

At this point I would trust China over Trump controlled US. Obama wanted peace and gave in a little too much on foreign interests. His heart was in the right place at least. Trump wants wars since he was raised in the Cold War and that's how big bully nations got their way. With the invention of the free market and the internet, big bullies will go out of business.

[@chandrshekharreddy8384]

Sony Sony chinas trade has always been protectionist i mean u sell them a design they will make a cheap copy and inturn flood ur market also they manipulate currency plus china has terrotorial dispute with all its neighbours

[@DipakBose-bq1vv]

Free trade means taking jobs away from other countries.

[@Tuberuser187]

China doesn't like free trade either, oh they like sending stuff to other countries and not having to pay tariffs but no-one can import to them the same.

[@anandananda2277]

Britain built suez canal to shorten freight trip. PRC built naval base to secure freight in SCS. Now trains can reach both nodes and even faster than sea liner. Im confused.

[@aryansaxena3114]

Ananda Nanda PRC built the artifical navy base to gain control of South China Sea.

[@anurgaprasad123]

looking beyond eyropean union for trade? the train passes through EU -__-

[@DeerRunner]

That train can only transport a fraction of a cargo ship at a higher cost. Expose the goods to extreme temperatures for months. Destroys alot and cost alot to make it.

[@Celestial_Arishem]

Total 'BLUNDER' could have transported the same goods can be transported via air in a fraction of time and through water with 1/3rd cost........

[@RelKeretaApi]

WOW, super amazing!!! get the most unique railroad crossings in Indonesia.

[@rudyalfonsus686]

imagine how much they cut the cost of trade between them.

[@AyebeeMk2]

Anyone still think this is a good idea?....

[@adonistopofmen2571]

Fantastic ...

[@camf7522]

When will the Orient Express take the same journey?

[@AC-SlaUkr]

Any chance of hooking some carriages onto it? That’d one amazing trip.

[@Mr79Shahin]

Andrew Chilton yeh very true!!

[@unknown_user1398]

0:01 that's where I live.

[@222222225574]

I am so jealous...

[@dasbidrohi]

Well they forgot to mention it has 50% subsidy from Chinese govt. Now when with subsidy it's get 50% cheaper than air price .. without subsidy it's equal to air transport .. Al-Jazeera please feed full news to people. Oh sorry I forgot you need Chinese money too. Thanks

[@AlexOjideagu2]

The moment you realise you left the Stove on at home

[@soufianenz]

the chinese chould do from europe to africa also, through a bride between Spain and Morocco

[@DarkLordSauron100]

Heh, given the Chinese are building railways in Africa, wonder if we'll ever see that "Cape to Cairo" line ever built

[@chickenfarm09]

They need more trains going! Hopefully this will work out very well!

[@newsgetsold]

2 years on and how is this going? Looks like the Suez Canal still carries more more freight between Europe and China than any rail service? Maybe DHL alone carries more air freight between Europe and China than any train service?!?

[@ahasanhabib9087]

good Future for all

[@nativegerry335]

Were there any gauge conversion during the trip?

[@Edithmedjdoub]

train is the way to go Ship carries more containers but is really slow plane is faster but carries less containers train carries fairly much containers and is fairly fast

[@notonline411]

wow im from china and im at london now

[@reginaldd.paperstacks194]

Give us a lift

[@positronlaserforce]

Twice as quick as shipping and half the cost of air transport... Yeah but flight is 100 times faster and boats carry 20x the amount of trains. What a dumb idea. Its better off as a passeger line.

[@in7687]

I wanna go on a journey in the train

[@222222225574]

for 12 days?

[@keyvin395]

In the near future！

[@LINESTELECOMCORDEDTELEPHONES]

Who is waiting for a trade train between Shenzhen And Mumbai? I dream CHINA-INDIA EVERYDAY TRADE TRAIN

[@robertbalazslorincz8218]

"Silk road train reaches England" *is pulled by a Deutsche Bundesbahn owned class 88* irony

[@shaikafreed1948]

Classical music ...

[@02752226041]

The train must come from India Mumbai to londong via Afghanistan

[@SRV777]

66136 was at the rear pushing the 92015 with containers. 92 cant run on non overhead wire track so its a lie the 92.

[@netsurfer2680]

The American Bully will be dumped hard!

[@reb9977]

in your dreams.

[@MrTomtomtest]

Well that's all well and good but given that those tracks go through the UE, maybe don't count on it just yet... Boats might be even more cheap once Brexit happens.

[@hackman669]

Hopefully the British Congress blocks the reckless actions of the prime minister. Otherwise, Britain will become isolationist like the US with a fail economy. By completing this rail line China has single handedly saved the EU from ruin as well as connect eastern and western economies positively strengthening both.

[@MrTomtomtest]

Yep. If Europe plays its cards right, like electing a Macron / Merkel combo they stand to gain a lot in the coming years if the US keeps its course.

[@hackman669]

Iamtop EU could become the newest superpower if they pool their resources and become on well oiled democratic machine. Even some American friends think Europe is more tolerant than the US. Perhaps Europe could finish what the Us started and bring liberty and peace to the world through trade negotiations with the east.

[@Jasiek55555]

I wonder how adept this train must be to dealing with different track widths? I believe that the types of rails would change a bit over such a journey.

[@brancanorris8933]

Jan Romaniewski China changed them all into China standard size

[@ritorno100]

Branca Norris According to BBC News this is incorrect. Chins and Britain both use what is known as standard gauge which became the norm in most of the world for no better reason than that the first trains, which were built in northern England, used the normal width of British horse-drawn coaches. However parts of the journey are through countries using the Russian gauge, which is 85mm wider. Both the engine and the waggons had to be changed. This was easy because everything was transported in containers. There will probably never be a direct route from China to Western Europe using a single gauge.

[@johnniebj]

Jan Romaniewski the containers are moved from wagon to wagon to deal with the gauge changes. And the locos change as the train moves from country to country. It's only the containers that travel from China to the Uk

[@aison2735]

China is developing the train that can change the distance between wheels

[@__Man__]

​@@brancanorris8933 China standard size is European standard size. So no problem.

[@johngardner5636]

And how was that electric locomotive moving when there are no overhead wires or third rail?

[@aryansaxena3114]

John Gardner backup diesel stored in it?

[@aryansaxena3114]

John Gardner or maybe a diesel engine was pushing the train.

[@johnniebj]

Aryan - Yes I think a diesel loco at the back is probably the answer.

[@johnniebj]

Aryan Saxena no, not in that class of loco 🙁

[@aryansaxena3114]

What?

[@Celevie]

Xinjiang province is a muslim autonomous region of uyghur muslim in china

[@1036911242]

But the most people are Han.

[@LINESTELECOMCORDEDTELEPHONES]

Ohh

[@imarkmosaic]

Hope to export our mosaic tile by this train sooon

[@pramodmehta1349]

WE SHOULD INVEST HEAVILY ON TRANS ASIAN RAILWAY IF WE WANT TO BE SUPER POWER UP TO 2047....

[@DipakBose-bq1vv]

There is nothing new in it. I have travelled more than 30 years ago, from London to Amsterdam, to Berlin, to Moscow to Irkutsk, to Vladivostok. There was no China then, only in the imagination of Nixon-Kissinger.

[@patlooson4644]

And then came corona too by train

[@thepchaipoo6577]

One Belt, One Road or the Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy and framework, proposed by Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily between the People's Republic of China and the rest of Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt" and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road". The strategy underlines China's push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need for priority capacity cooperation in areas such as steel manufacturing. This is the land route of The Economic Belt of The Silk Road. It is the alternative to 21 st Century Maritime Silk Road.

[@statusselebritis2247]

How long the journey from China to London?

[@stomybugsy12]

Something very interesting to invest in!

[@TheFu1709ck]

the purpose is not to sell British stuff to China, but vice versa....

[@azianberry]

what about security?

[@hackman669]

Use Chinese security as well as European forces. Also place stops in Mid East to develop standard of living and benefit for all.

[@yaleipang7725]

世界只有合作才能有更加美好的明天

[@everettedualino5074]

one rail stolen bye bye train

[@bennickss]

How is that class 92 moving without overhead live wires?

[@ajf3202]

There was a shed at the back shunting it in

[@thefatcontroller4094]

Is that a 66 on the back of it?

[@bushyroyroy5937]

nice video

[@robdeskrd]

That is cool

[@jessejames2048]

Now is easier to buy stuffs from Europe. Yay

[@mascunglumajang3067]

ii itt,China Will be the Champion ini their grade for trading?? in universe

[@rightwingamericandoggo2487]

China freight brought to you by deutsche Bahn

[@GEES44DC]

Modern rail freight in action, she says, about the 20 car long train. lol.

[@lensak.a.z987]

Is it cheaper than sea transport?

[@thefatcontroller4094]

Cheaper than sea and air

[@hoalex5329]

Just beginning

[@sharantalks711]

Advance rip London

Deutsche Bahn = DB

[@BlatentlyFakeName]

Shame it's only freight. If they could extend it to Japan and open passenger trains it would be amazing. The whole world easily accessible (except America, sorry :P)

[@AnhTrieu90]

Wouldn’t hurt to include a passenger car in there. I would certainly pay to sit on a train for 18 days.

[@TheWarLord_]

Yeah an alternative path to mobilise chinese troops in case of war. British are foolish to accept such un economical offers,

[@lisa-hh1vq]

OMG！！CHINA-London？real？

[@user-wq3bt3oe4e]

Now british peoples are able to eat dog meat with noodles.

[@antonkorte5060]

Lol thats a german engiene why?

[@johngunner2315]

I’m gonna train surf to China 🇨🇳

[@demlinnalo2030]

👍👍👍👍👍🖒🖒🖒🖒🖒👍👍👍👍🖒

[@jjc4232]

China 🇨🇳 and UK 🇬🇧

[@rarlkannseier]

These trains kill europeans economy....

[@hoo-rei2746]

Wish New Zealand was on the Silk Road

[@lxjilyfe]

jesus the lion dance every time, only the ppl in guangdong province do that, the rest of chinese don't have that culture.

[@iwansupriyanto8725]

China sudah menguasai perdagangan dunia dengan jalan kereta api sabuk sutra, Indonesia masih berkutat dengan isu Sara dan agama, Kasihan negaraku....

[@hanjianwar7189]

✍🏻🤕🤕🤕

[@armv7-m603]

Lol, look at the China bots in the comments.

[@alexandrajohnsson3703]

You're a CIA paid troll.

[@jianwang9081]

idiot

[@Nexus-7.0]

+TINO LOL

[@aryansaxena3114]

TINO IKR

[@Kim-m2z]

hopefully this will boost brits economy but don't be their slave never forget to raise human right issues

[@hackman669]

Does this train also stop in Asian and Mid Eastern Countries as well as Europe? Best way to increase peace is to build alliances through trade and interdependence. Thanks to China the European countries will recover and new markets will be developed in Asia.

[@222222225574]

Why you never care about human rights issues in India? There are more than 500 women got raped in "public street" in India. You just ingnored it?

[@aryansaxena3114]

hackman669 good idea but ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Jaish E Mohammed and other terrorist groups still exist. They would start bombing the trains.

[@Bozewani]

大好新话一火车只中国英国一世

[@elijahli9960]

Roman Soiko please stop using Google translation...I'm Chinese and I can't understand a word in your comment...

[@Bozewani]

i speak Chinese just fine

[@Bozewani]

我知道中文 我知道中文一大困南语世只我学 怎？ 一语联合国 （我知道全语联合国阿拉伯语中文英语法语饿罗语西班呀语）

[@shuocheng3058]

LOL， Me neither看不懂

[@user-mx9xp3tm5v]

this isnot chinese这什么东西语序都是乱的机翻的吧

[@pengfu8608]

Some Brits and Westerners obviously do not like this. One guy spoke about Fa Lung Gong and China's pollution. My reply: The apparent unhappiness is coming from a guy with his ancestors who stole lands and killed countless acoss the world, robbed India, old USA, Australia, and China, and has its nasty pollution problems past and present. London is pretty high on the pollution scale, Sherlock. Remember the Thames was a sewage dump and people fell in it died right away? How about the Falkans, ah? What a prime case of extreme stupidity. Do me a favor.....Lock yourself in a garage with the door closed, turn on your ancient diesel car, and inhale deeply for an hour.......It is healthy for your type.

[@russell7489]

And it bleeds the Chinese gov't dry, since they provide a 50% subsidy. If only it could handle more than 1/200 th the freight of just Shanghai it might have been a way to bankrupt China. However it's a great PR move and local rail is environmentally friendly, and it might find it's niche not moving goods 12,000 km end to end, but shifting goods from Britan to Germany, Spain to Poland instead of thousands of trucks. If it could dominate inter country freight in Europe and with billions in legal gov't subsidies, since China is still officially developing and exempt from most fair trade laws, it could undersell any other shipper thereby destroy trucking and small shipping cos cos doing it now. It would well be worth it to China to establish a critical stranglehold on European business either by raising prices, limiting access / capacity to simply running all the rolling stock and workers, and China always staffs it's overseas operations with Chinese workers, avoiding locals for all but the cheapest and most menial of work, back to China. Just an idea, or an idea to avoid.......