Development of Railway Logistics in China
As the artery of national economy, a nation’s important infrastructure, and the resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly means of transport, railway is the integral part and the pillar in modern logistic system in China. In recent years, environmen
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Development of Railway Logistics in China Jian-hua Xiao
As the artery of national economy, a nation’s important infrastructure, and the resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly means of transport, railway is the integral part and the pillar in modern logistic system in China. In recent years, environment for the development of railway logistics in China keeps improving, infrastructures of railway logistics are being bettered, and logistic products are making constant innovations; thus China is gradually establishing a modern railway logistic service system. This chapter includes four sections. Section 7.1 gives an overview of railway logistics, including its principal characteristics, operating network, main operators and categories. Section 7.2 describes the environment for railway logistics development, including market demands, planning policies, and the relevant standards. Section 7.3 discusses the current development of railway logistics, including market size, infrastructures, channel construction, and information platform. Section 7.4 points out the existing problems and future development trend of railway logistics in China.
7.1
Overview of Railway Logistics
Railway logistics refers to the physical flow process of transporting goods from the origin of supply to the reception destination, mainly on trains by relying on the infrastructures of railway network and stocking yards. Railway logistics encompasses functions of storage, loading/unloading, hauling, packaging, circulation processing, distribution, and information processing.
J.-h. Xiao (*) Logistics Research Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 L. Wang et al. (eds.), Contemporary Logistics in China, Current Chinese Economic Report Series, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-1052-1_7
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J.-h. Xiao
Main Characteristics of Railway Logistics
Railway logistics is featured by large transport capacity and long transport distance. Specifically, railway transport mainly uses the train carriages hauled by highpowered locomotives, with each train transporting 3,000–5,000 tons of goods. The maximum weight hauled by rail locomotives can reach more than 10,000 tons, much higher than that of air transport or highway transport. As a result, railways can fulfill the task of large-capacity transport. Meanwhile, the average transport distance for Chinese railway freight stands at about 800 km, 25 times more than that of highway transport and 1.15 times more than that of pipeline transport. Railway logistics features low energy consumption and little pollution. According to the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, the fuel consumption of railway transport is 1.7 liters/100 tons-km, which is far lower than the 4.1 liters consumed in highway transport. The CO2 emission of railway transport is 48.1 liters/100 tons-km, much lower than the 164 liters consumed in highway transport. Railway transport also features great accuracy and continuity; as a process it is
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