Yiwu–Madrid railway line
The Yiwu - Madrid Railway line is a railway route taken by container trains from the Chinese city of Yiwu to the Spanish city of Madrid, a distance of approximately, and the longest in the world. The Trans-Siberian Railway was previously the longest. It is one of several routes used by long distance freight trains on the "New Eurasian Land Bridge".
From Yiwu, a trading centre south of Shanghai, the track passes through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, and France, terminating at the Spanish capital. China, Poland, and Western Europe have Standard gauge track, while Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus use Russian gauge, and Spain has the even wider Iberian gauge. Therefore, trains go through Bogie exchange at Dostyk, Kazakhstan, Brest, Belarus, and Hendaye. The journey takes 21 days. In comparison, a sea journey would take six weeks, and road transport would cause about three times as much pollution.
The InterRail Group launched this train connection in November 2014, in cooperation with Chinese Railways and Deutsche Bahn. The :de:InterRail Holding|InterRail Group, registered in Switzerland, is an international transport group with a focus on rail freight, and the owner of rolling stock and containers.
Trains are run by different companies, which are a joint venture between the German Deutsche Bahn AG and Russian Railways. Typical goods include computers and vehicle parts.
The international project follows Chinese President Xi Jinping’s promise to establish an "economic belt" along the historic Silk Road and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call for "a new wave of industrialisation across the Eurasian continent."
