The transportation of containers by rail could grow substantially in China, especially if the nation continues adopting the kind of operating practices and regulatory reforms that have boosted the development of the North American rail network, according to a new World Bank research paper.
Those measures include the ability of rail operators to tailor service offerings including pricing, routing and delivery time to client needs, as well as “mainstreaming” of specialization in the value chain, allowing rail operators to focus on the things they are good at, according to the paper, Customer-driven Rail Intermodal Logistics: Unlocking a New Source of Value for China.
“A more intense use of rail as part of the country’s containerized freight delivery logistics system could be a game-changer for Chinese manufacturers and consumers alike, as we have seen in North America. That’s because more and more manufacturing has moved to China’s western provinces, which increases the distance of international and domestic shipments. At the same time, China’s highways are becoming more congested, making it difficult to deliver goods and get value-for-money in trucking services,” said Luis Blancas, a World Bank Senior Transport Specialist and lead author of the paper.
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