Cargo train makes first rail trip between China and Mongolia - UN commission

The railways of China and Mongolia will start cargo train service tomorrow between Tianjin port, east of Beijing, and Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, as part of a project to connect Asia and Europe by rail, the United Nations regional commission for Asia and the Pacific said today.

"On 8 November, as the train is flagged on its way, the railways of China and Mongolia will take the first step towards the implementation of a grander vision to link Asia and Europe by land and one that may eventually change the face of transport in north-east Asia," said Barry Cable, Chief of the Transport and Tourism Division of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

A pilot container block-train will make the 1,700-kilometre journey as part of ESCAP's Trans-Asian Railway project under a six-country agreement reached at a meeting in Ulaanbaatar in early October.

Under the agreement, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation made a commitment to boost rail movement across borders and recognize the role of railways in regional economic development.

The ESCAP project will help to provide land-bridge services linking two of the world's most economically active regions, northeast Asia and the European Union.

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