micklner Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 No more waiting for Container Ships to arrive with your favourite new releases !! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38497997 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 3, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 3, 2017 Been a long time coming this. I can only see more of this in future given the savings in speed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 I wonder how many trains will be taking exports to China ............. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 As I understand it at the moment the train starts in Chengdu but there are plans to run it from Shanghai and other industrial centres. I also understand that they are looking at another route that will eliminate the Russia section and allow standard gauge all the way although with the current situation in Turkey this may change. This is the advanced thinking that we used to be good at but which has been displaced by the "market economy" where a six month turnover is a long time. Exception being the new tunnel in the Alps Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Been a long time coming this. I can only see more of this in future given the savings in speed. I am surprised it hasn't been done sooner. It's a great middle-ground between shipping & flying, and in theory you could run multiple trains per. day. I wonder what the practical capacity of the route is? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 4, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2017 I am surprised it hasn't been done sooner. It's a great middle-ground between shipping & flying, and in theory you could run multiple trains per. day. I wonder what the practical capacity of the route is? It will be based on a European pinch point I suspect, for the UK this would the the Channel tunnel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 As I understand it at the moment the train starts in Chengdu but there are plans to run it from Shanghai and other industrial centres. I also understand that they are looking at another route that will eliminate the Russia section and allow standard gauge all the way although with the current situation in Turkey this may change. This is the advanced thinking that we used to be good at but which has been displaced by the "market economy" where a six month turnover is a long time. Exception being the new tunnel in the Alps What about Iran!?! Surely we're more at loggerheads with them than Russia or Turkey? If they want to eliminate the Russia section, they appear to me, to have no choice but go through Iran! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Is the British section to be run on the HS line through Medway to take advantage of loading gauge, or on conventional link that can handle the stock to Barking Terminal. Presumably from Ebbsfleet across the Thames will be used, but is there an up graded line to Barking? As said the bigger problem is the Russians etc., was the purpose of the Tibetan HS link part of the Cunning Plan to Export at all cost! On the news the Container ships owners do not think the service would have the capacity to compete, citing the Channel tunnel as the weakest link, plus trans shipment twice on route over Russian Broad gauge. Mind you the Chinese are eyeing up getting to Alaska via Russia, that will give President Elect Donald Trump apoplexy......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Rixon Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 The biggest potential is for smaller Chinese firms retailing direct to UK. Currently, they work at a big disadvantage in on-line sales because they have no stock of goods in Europe and it takes months to get packets here by sea. If their delivery time goes down from 2 months to 2 weeks then these suppliers look more attractive. I would be interested to see the price difference per container between rail and sea shipping. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 The pinch points are a bit further away than Cheriton; I would say that, initially, the two breaks-of-gauge could easily cause difficulties, as they're not currently equipped to deal with such large-scale container volumes. Within the UK, operation would almost certainly involve wagons to UIC norms, rather than ones to UK standards. They will probably be the 2x 40' articulated platforms, seen in lots of flows from the North Sea container ports, and already used on the Dourges- Barking trains a couple of years back. These have the greatest capacity per metre of train length, followed by the 80' wagons that have appeared recently. In comparison, the wagons purpose-built to UK loading gauge carry about 20% less per metre of train. Barking had links to CTRL built during the construction of the new line, originally for access for construction traffic: these are electrified, and are to Berne gauge. They are currently used for the Transfesa trains from Dagenham, which detach a portion at Barking/ Ripple Lane, and have been used for the Dourges- Barking service operated by Malcolms on behalf of P&G. Give the size of the new warehousing for both Malcoms and Stobarts at Ripple Lane, I would say that they've been looking at traffic such as this for some time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Taking containers on and off of a boat is a fairly significant break of gauge. According to The Times, part of the cargo is socks. Socks!?!? Is it really cheaper to schlepp socks across the globe than to make them in Halifax (if that is where socks were traditionally made)? K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Taking containers on and off of a boat is a fairly significant break of gauge. According to The Times, part of the cargo is socks. Socks!?!? Is it really cheaper to schlepp socks across the globe than to make them in Halifax (if that is where socks were traditionally made)? K The Socks in Halifax would be made in a Victorian building long paid for, and worth many millions to developers, an accountant then says it is cheaper to produce in China and sells the property and distributes the proceeds to the shareholders and stock holders. It only works the once, and despite the low wages of the last few years there is now little cost difference in wages. What puts off returning here is the cost of the replacement of what the firm had for free and cashed in on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Taking containers on and off of a boat is a fairly significant break of gauge. According to The Times, part of the cargo is socks. Socks!?!? Is it really cheaper to schlepp socks across the globe than to make them in Halifax (if that is where socks were traditionally made)? K It is, if you've closed the factories that made them, and sold the machinery abroad. A friend of mine has spent much of the last twenty years dismantling machinery from the ceramics industry, packing it in containers, then travelling to the other side of the world (Thailand, India, Egypt etc) to reassemble it for the new owners. I thought it was Leicester that was the sock-capital of the UK? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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