It is the longest (train) journey ever told. Or lived. 13,052 kilometers across frozen steppes at -30ºC, deserts rife with bandits, and massive mountain ranges once crossed by none other than Marco Polo himself. From the easternmost tip of China, the Yixin’Ou will cross Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France… A total of eight countries to reach the very heart of Spain’s capital. In total, 21 days on rails, beating the legendary Trans-Siberian route (9,289 kilometers) by 40%.
Here, given the timing of its arrival and the many toys it carries in its blue wagons, it will be welcomed as the Three Kings’ train. In total, 30,560 cubic meters of goods, weighing over 1,000 tons.
Everything about the Yixin’Ou is massive, conceived by Chinese authorities to inaugurate what would become the Spanish branch of the 21st-century New Silk Road. There will be so many driver handovers that it will make the famous Pony Express (the mail system of the Wild West where riders took turns to deliver letters on time) pale in comparison. According to calculations by an American journalist who covered the route between Kazakhstan and Poland for The New York Times months ago, “more than 100 engineers and guards take turns throughout the three-week journey.”
November 18. Yiwu Station, the city where China’s southeastern “everything for one euro” market converges. 11:00 a.m. A bright orange locomotive, decorated with red ribbons, jolts into motion, pulling a caravan of 40 blue wagons as local authorities applaud. Slowly and majestically, in just over five minutes, the half-kilometer-long worm disappears on its way to its final destination: Madrid-Abroñigal station.
The great journey had begun. On the platform, workers had been mobilized to celebrate the inaugural adventure. A giant Chinese flag had covered the locomotive’s nose for photos while the local Communist Party secretary, Li Yifei, proclaimed with fitting pomp: “We want to become the starting point of the economic belt of the Silk Road.” Grand words that align with the ambitions of the country’s president, Xi Jinping. In recent months, committed to reviving the medieval route that had Marco Polo as its most famous traveler, the leader pledged to invest €32 billion in rail infrastructure. His goal: to strengthen China’s grip on trade, weakened since the 15th century, when the original Silk Road was still in use.
This is no adventurer’s whim. Proof of that is this first convoy. Trailing behind the locomotive are 40 High Cube containers, measuring 12 meters long, 2.35 wide, and 2.69 high—stuffed to the brim with made-in-China goods. Of the entire train, 30 of those enormous Christmas baskets will end up in the Cobo Calleja industrial estate in Fuenlabrada (Madrid), the largest Chinese business hub in Europe.
There, merchants await tons of gifts, decorations, and especially toys for the Christmas season. Thanks to the Yixin’Ou (in Spanish, “Yiwu New Europe”), neither Santa Claus nor the Three Wise Men will arrive empty-handed this year.
Yiwu (translated as “justice”) has always been the natural starting point for this train. In the bustling markets of this 1.2-million-resident city, trinkets from Zhejiang province—origin of most Chinese immigrants in Spain—are traded. Then, hundreds of exporters ship them to Western industrial zones.
Once Yiwu was behind, the train began devouring 4,645 kilometers through China’s inhospitable interior: Lanzhou, Xian, Urumqi… Though its cruising speed reaches 100 km/h, the average speed for the 21-day trip is 25 km/h. The reason is threefold: customs waits, stops to replace locomotives every 800 kilometers, and above all, the three track gauge changes the Yixin’Ou must undergo on its Eurasian marathon.
The first change happened last weekend. After crossing China, the train arrived at the Dostyk-Alashankou crossing in Kazakhstan, where it typically stops for nearly three days. There, giant cranes transferred all 40 containers one by one to wagons with the correct gauge. The other two changes will take place at the Polish border and next Saturday, when the train enters Spain through Irún.
With its new gauge, the Yixin’Ou resumed its journey over 3,412 kilometers across Kazakhstan’s arid terrain. The train follows the path of the legendary Silk Road, which once connected China and Europe to trade spices, precious stones, and, of course, silk. That route fell out of use over 500 years ago, but is now being revived with equally valuable goods: iPads, computers, and these days, toys for the Iberian Peninsula.
After completing the 3,412 kilometers through Kazakhstan, the Yixin’Ou crossed into Russia at Ilezk at the end of the week. In Russia, 1,497 kilometers of aging tracks lay ahead. Then came Belarus, with another 587 kilometers to go. All of it in temperatures plunging to -30ºC near Omsk, southeastern Siberia, testing the engineers’ skills to the limit.
Security is tight to prevent thefts in these lawless regions. The cargo is under 24-hour surveillance, including at customs. There are armed guards onboard. Additionally, containers are equipped with “GSM seals”—tamper-proof locks that trigger an alarm if interfered with.
This Sunday, the train was scheduled to cross Belarus at Krasnoye. Twenty hours later, it was expected to reach Poland (Brest-Malaszewicze), just after surpassing 10,000 kilometers of travel. There, another equipment change will occur, and a dozen containers will be unloaded. The remaining 30 still have 3,000 kilometers to go—through Poland, Germany, France…—until reaching the heart of Madrid.
The Spanish Yixin’Ou follows in the footsteps of a successful Eurasian railway predecessor. For over two years, a train has run from Chongqing, in central China, to Duisburg, in eastern Germany. Every week, an average of five trains complete the route, carrying dozens of containers filled with computers, machinery, car parts…
Nothing goes to waste on these journeys. On the return trip, the trains carry high-value goods: this fall, for example, they transported luxury cars to China for the first time. That’s also the plan for the Spanish train in the future. “We hope to export food products, which are highly sought after there: ham, wine, olive oil…” says Daniel Campos, partner at CoboCalleja.info, the official site of the industrial estate.
The train has endless advantages as a means of transport. It’s faster than shipping, which can take over a month. And it’s cheaper than air freight. “Plus, it arrives directly in Madrid, which has no port, and crosses several European countries where goods can be distributed,” explains Adrián Díaz, founder of Sede en China, a foreign trade company based in Yiwu.
The final push for the Yixin’Ou project came on September 20. That day, Mariano Rajoy visited Xi Jinping in Beijing, who encouraged him to “actively participate in the train’s development and operation to increase levels of cooperation and bilateral trade.” However, according to Fang Xudong, deputy director at Timex Industrial (one of the partnering companies), the project had been in the works since March. Yiwu’s traders want to capitalize on their vast customer base in Spain—mainly bazaar wholesalers. “When the train arrives, we’ll host a welcome ceremony in Madrid,” says Fang Xudong, referring to a celebration rumored to include Yiwu’s mayor.
Another key date in the process was November 1. A delegation from Yiwu visited entrepreneurs at the Madrid estate. One by one, they outlined the benefits of the new train, convincing the hesitant with a launch offer. “They only asked $2,500 per container… A very competitive price,” says Daniel Campos.
The train’s debut was an unexpected Christmas gift for merchants like Jin (who prefers not to give his full name). This year, his order of Christmas trees fell painfully short, and he had no time left to reorder—ships take up to 45 days. So, Jin saw a golden opportunity when he heard about the Yixin’Ou. Without hesitation, he ordered a full container of Christmas decorations, which he now eagerly awaits in his warehouse.
He wasn’t the only one to put his trust in the Yixin’Ou. Around 15 entrepreneurs from Cobo Calleja reserved space on the train. In total, 30 of the 40 containers that departed from Yiwu—300 kilometers south of Shanghai—are bound for Spain. “If this test run goes smoothly, they’re going to bet big on the train,” insists Campos, who has just launched a website to ride the wave of this emerging business.
From beginning to end, the new route finds allies. In Yiwu, where the journey began, among those who applauded the Yixin’Ou’s departure was one of the first Spanish customers of the train. His name is Carlos Santana, Zhejiang representative for Mundiver, an import-export company. As soon as he heard about the railway, he booked a container, which he filled with underwear for the Christmas campaign. “Air shipping is just too expensive,” he told the *Qianjiang Wanbao* newspaper.
The Chinese-Spanish train’s logistics are managed by IRS InterRailServices GmbH. Traction on the European leg is handled by DBSR Group companies. Once the train crosses the Pyrenees, Transfesa will manage the final stretch between Irún and Madrid-Abroñigal with its own locomotive.
For now, the Yixin’Ou is a train on trial. But if forecasts are met, a regular Yiwu-Madrid line could be launched by spring 2015. Fang Xudong from Timex Industrial already anticipates the plan: one train per month. And if business booms, that frequency may even double.
It all depends on whether the Chinese train meets its challenge on time. This Saturday, it is expected to arrive at Irún station. There, the equipment will once again be changed. And three days later, the massive caravan that departed from Yiwu will reach its final destination: Madrid-Abroñigal. There, the anxious Jin will finally be able to collect his Christmas trees. They will have completed an astounding journey—13,052 kilometers on rails—to reach their destination. A journey, until now, never told.
With reporting by Diego Torres (Beijing)
Longest train journey CHRONICLE Ana González Rueda
