THE Chinese railway authorities are keen to develop the China Landbridge (CLB) into a modern day container ''Silk Road'' linking China and other Far East regions to West Asia and Europe.
This was conveyed to a delegation of the Japan Container Association (JCA) which visited China recently.
The delegation was on a fact-finding mission to see the transport activities along the CLB, the current state of the country's container manufacturing facilities and discuss other transport services-related matters.
According to the delegation's report, the Chinese railway authorities had shown a positive stance to develop container transport services along the CLB by improving equipment and systems and double-tracking the line.
Linked to the railway system in neighbouring Kazakhstan, China Landbridge is an international rail transport route stretching from China's coastal provinces to various points in central Asia and Kazakhstan and further to the Middle East and Europe through its connection with the Russian railway system.
It stretches for 4,131 kilometres from China's coastal gateway port of Lianyungang in Jiangsu province to the Alataw Shankou station on the China-Kazakhstan border.
With a distance of 10,900 km from Lianyungang to Rotterdam, the China Landbridge is half as long as the 20,000 km all-water route.