It takes 18 days to cover the journey of 12,000 km, and the train passes through Kazakhstan, the European part of Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France, before reaching the UK.
Yiwu Timex Industrial Investment Co., which is running the freight service, said in a press note that a train departs for London once a week, transporting household items, garments, bags, and suitcases.
According to logistics expert Alexei Bezborodov from InfraNews, the main purpose behind the opening of this route may be to get publicity, as household products and clothes do not need to be shipped on an urgent basis.
“Shipment time is important for expensive products such as auto kits, electronic equipment, and computers,” Bezborodov told RBTH.
“For example, the Hewlett-Packard train departs thrice a week from Chongqing to Germany. This launch of this service is an attempt to reach out to the suppliers and buyers of goods. They want to show that the Yiwu-London route exists.”
The cost of supplies
According to Finam analyst Alexey Kalachev, rail transportation offers just one advantage over the sea route – time. It takes 30 to 45 days to send goods to Europe from China by ship.
The sea route is cheaper and ships have a larger carrying capacity than trains. While a train can carry up to 200 containers, a ship can easily handle 20,000.
Rest at http://rbth.com/business/2017/01/13/why-china-launched-a-freight-train-to-london-via-kazakhstan-and-russia_680196
