Train drivers Gao and Lei — veterans with an experience of two decades each — had arrived well in advance at Gaoyi, a small county town in China’s Hebei province. Their mission: pilot the first train from the town to Moscow.
Gaoyi serves a vast hinterland of north China. It is not far from Hebei’s provincial capital, Shijiazhuang. Beijing is less than 300 km away. China’s planners are championing joint development of Hebei, Beijing and the port city of Tianjin. The launch of the train was part of this larger blueprint of interconnected growth. “We will take 16 days to reach Moscow,” said Mr. Gao, trying to make his voice audible from his perch inside the train’s engine. “As you know, we have very good relations with Russia. I am honoured to undertake this maiden journey,” he told the visiting media delegation.
As he spoke, a formal launch ceremony for the event, at the adjoining platform, was coming to a close. The speeches were over, and on the all-white stage, Chinese and Russian officials, braving a blazing sun, were getting set to cut a symbolic maroon ribbon. The loud burst of firecrackers that followed announced that the official ceremony was over. The train trumpeted its horn to the full, and slowly chugged its way out of the station.
Many of the passing carriages were draped in red banners. Some of them read: “In honour of the 97th anniversary of the Communist Party of China”. With the departure of the train, Gaoyi had seamlessly become part of the Eurasian trade network. The Hebei-Beijing-Tianjin triangulation is part of the big picture of developing north China, by integrating it with the globe.
Hebei is China’s top steel-making province. For long, the city of Tangshan has remained its steel-making capital. But with steel access to the U.S. slowing down, and a domestic crackdown under way on polluting “zombie” steel mills, this sector is seeing a major transition. The decline in consumption in established centres is putting pressure on local steel producers to hunt for new markets. Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, on the route of the train, do offer a glimmer of hope.
Hebei is also known for its textiles, ceramics, and petroleum and power industries. It is also a major producer of food. The province that surrounds Beijing and Tianjin has excellent connectivity — the key to accessing distant markets in quick time.
High-speed trains from Beijing to Shanghai, as well as Guangzhou — China’s major coastal trade hubs — run through Hebei. Railway tracks link the province further north to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Northeast andnorthwest China are also on the high-speed rail map.
Smart port project
The departure area of the train to Moscow is part of a proposed South-Central Hebei Smart Port project, which will also service Beijing and Tianjin, connecting them with markets in Europe, Asia and Africa. Yibo Holding Group — a private undertaking — is collaborating with Beijing Trust and Beijing Railway Logistics to develop the land port.
In the course of the launch ceremony, Liu Ruiling, head of Yibo Holding, pointed out that large quantities of freight can now be moved from the provincial capital Shijiazhuang to Russia. “We are looking forward to building a convenient trade bridge not only for manufacturers in Shijiazhuang but also companies in nearby Beijing and Tianjin as well as throughout Hebei province that are interested in expanding into Russian, Central Asian and even European markets.”
Atul Aneja works for The Hindu and is based in Beijing
