Kazakhstan officials plan new route from China to Europe

[dArKeR]

THE GUARDIAN , MOSCOW
Sunday, Mar 14, 2004,Page 5

For years it has trundled a slow and solitary path across the vast expanses of the Siberian tundra.

But now the Trans-Siberian railway will face its first direct competitor as the overland route from China to Europe when a new railway is built to straddle the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan announced on Friday that it would complete within four years a 3,200km track from China on its eastern border to Europe. It will cost an estimated US$3.5 billion and be able to transport 40 billion tonnes of goods a year.

After crossing Kazakhstan, itself the size of western Europe, the railway would either cut south through Iran or cross through Russia, the fastest route to mainland Europe.

Kanat Zhangaskin, the vice-president of the Kazakhstan National Railway Company, said while in Hong Kong looking for investors for the project, that "after completion of the railway, a container from Hong Kong and other places in China could be directly transported to Europe", according to the Xinhua news agency.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/03/14/2003102409

Hmm!