The caravans which used to ply the old Silk Road trade route have been replaced by a 32-container cargo train which just completed its first journey on Monday.
The train covered 10,399 km in just 14 days from China’s eastern province of Zhejiang to the Iranian capital, Tehran.
The initiative, part of attempts to resurrect the ancient route, outstripped truck and road transport and shaved off one month by sea from Shanghai to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
In its time, the trans-Asian trade network linked the east to Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. It was used frequently from the second century BC when China’s Han Dynasty opened trade with the west.
Angry at the loss of Andalusia and at the Christian Crusades, the Ottoman Empire in 1453 boycotted trade with the west and the routes disintegrated.
Nearly 600 years later officials in Iran have indicated that their goal is to extend the rail journey to Europe
“Countries along the Silk Road are striving to revive the ancient network of trade routes,” said the president of Iran’s railway company, according to the country’s semi-official Mehr news agency. “The arrival in Tehran of the train in less than a fortnight has been an unprecedented achievement.”
He said the train beat “truck and road transport” and demonstrated the great advantage of the route.
Despite the international sanctions, lifted in January, against Iran, it maintained commercial ties with China which is its largest trading partner. Last month the two countries agreed to boost trade to $600bn (£420bn) over the next ten years.
“Iran is strategically located in the Middle East, sharing land borders with 15 nations and sea channels on its northern and southwestern coasts,” said Iran’s state-owned Press TV. “China sees Iran as a country that can play a crucial role in China’s New Silk Road initiative, given its access to extensive delivery routes connecting to the Middle East and Eurasia.”
