The train took about 3 hours and 15 minutes for the 540-kilometer route to Tokyo on 23 March. Freight, among which is food, medical equipment and machine parts, is loaded with autonomously operated carts.

Besides declining passenger demand, the move to use the high-speed train for freight is also motivated by truck driver shortages. The Shinkansen E3-2000 reaches a top speed of 275 kilometers per hour and can transport 1000 boxes with a weight of 17.4 tonnes.

Italian adventure

The Italian rail freight operator Mercitalia also briefly operated a high-speed service. It launched the service in November 2018, offering a travel time of around four hours at an average speed of 177 kilometres per hour between the northern and southern regions of the country. ‘Mercitalia Fast’ was discontinued after four years in November 2022.

Japan Rail is now eyeing the production of a cargo version of the Shinkansen while increasing the number of connections. The group highlights several factors in favour of its development: the shortage of truck drivers, the growing demand for rapid deliveries of perishable goods and the pressure to reduce CO2 emissions.

Amazon experience in Europe

In Europe, the latest attempt to incorporate high-speed rail into parcel delivery operations came in May last year when Amazon began using SNC’s Paris-Lyon passenger service to transport 2,000 parcels on a daily basis. Trains cover the distance in less than two and a half hours rather than the eight hours taken by truck. Amazon’s premier experience of high-speed rail took place in Italy, having been a customer on state-owned logistics group FS’ Mercitalia Fast service between Naples and Bologna. But this was discontinued in November 2022.

Euro Carex project

Going back a couple of decades, Europe had high hopes for this type of transport for freight. Euro Carex (CArgo Rail EXpress) was a European express rail freight network project that aimed to use existing high-speed lines during off-peak passenger traffic hours (mainly at night) with trains adapted for parcel transport. It was pitched as an alternative to air and road freight over distances of between 200 and 800 km.

In March 2012, a test took place with an all-freight TGV leaving Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport with a capacity to 120 tonnes of cargo (the equivalent of seven semi-trailers), arriving at St Pancras Station in London in the early hours of the following morning. The itinerary included a stop at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport to demonstrate the ability to take on additional cargo.

The 900 kilometres were covered at 270 kilometres per hour for two-thirds of the journey, nearly four times the speed of a conventional freight train. However, despite bringing together a number of major public and private players – Paris-CDG, Lyon and Amsterdam airports, SNCF, Europorte and potential future customers such as Air France KLM Cargo, UPS, Chronopost International and FedEx Express, the ambitious project was ultimately shelved due to the cost of development and the volumes required to reach the break-even point.

The route of the whole journey starts from Nagoya and passes through the Chinese ports of Qingdao and Xian. From there, freight trains take the cargo through Kazakhstan and then to Poti, in Georgia. The goods are then transported for their final leg to Ambarli, in Türkiye.

“The route is intended for general trade shipments between Japan, South Korea, China, and Europe”, Danelia added. Maersk’s trust in the Middle Corridor is not something new. At the end of 2023, the company established an intermodal service connecting Poti to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan via this route.

Around the world via the Middle Corridor?

Initiatives such as this one led by Maersk show the growing interest in the Middle Corridor, which connects China and Europe via Central Asian countries. Despite often being considered only as an alternative route, more and more companies are highlighting the potential of this corridor.

If, on the one hand, Maersk considers it viable for a connection between Türkiye and Japan, Kazakhstan tested it as a way to reach the USA. Recently, a freight train left Almaty, in the Kazakh southeast and headed to Poti. There, the cargo was moved to the sea and crossed the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Houston, Texas.

According to Nikkei Asia, JR East already has experience with small-scale freight deliveries in bullet trains and will use its existing fleet for operations. Goods will be packed in spaces between the passenger seats. The idea of deploying bullet trains to transport cargo resulted partially from the impact of COVID-19, from which the passenger services volumes and revenues of JR East have not yet recovered. Consequently, filling up the free passenger space with cargo could be a good solution for JR East in securing additional revenue.

Nevertheless, the implementation of such an idea will also produce other benefits. Japan is currently in the process of revising some road transport rules, namely rules concerning the limit of truck drivers’ overtime hours, which will be reduced substantially. As a result, Japan’s transport sector expects truck driver shortages to intensify and looks for alternative solutions or a shift to rail, as Europeans would call it. Moving part of cargo onto bullet trains could ease the situation. China is also applying similar solutions.

China bullet-freight service

China launched its first regular bullet freight train service dedicated to the freight network. The first test run was completed on 12 July, with two trains running between Chengdu and Kunming in West China at the highest speed of 250 kilometres per hour. The service is operating on a daily basis.

Similar to what will happen in Japan, the Chinese freight bullet trains were adapted from the previous passenger bullet trains. The service covers a distance of 1.127 kilometres and delivers the goods within six hours. Besides fresh food, this service targets products with high added value, such as biomedical products, electronics, and business documents.

Also read:

• China: bullet freight trains to supply world’s largest shopping festival
• FESCO launches new sea-rail service from Japan to Uzbekistan
• FESCO and Russian Railways develop Japan-Europe multimodal service

2022 a competitive year

In the past year, FESCO launched 22 new intermodal services. Some of the most prominent ones were those linking Moscow to China, Korea and Japan via the port of Nakhodka and Japan to Uzbekistan via China and Kazakhstan. The first was just launched last December. Using the port of Nakhodka as the entry point to Russia, this service links eleven different ports from the countries involved to Moscow. After consolidating cargo at Nakhodka, FESCO loads it on trains that carry it all the way to the Russian capital.

The latter was launched in September, connecting the port of Yokohama (Japan) to the port of Lianyungang (China, Jiangsu Province). From Lianyungang, containers proceed by rail to Kazakhstan, and after reloading in Khorgos – Altynkol, they also continue by rail until they reach the Chukursai station in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s capital. The service runs twice per month and focuses mainly on transporting car parts.

Also read:

• FESCO launches new sea-rail service from Japan to Uzbekistan

• FESCO’s volumes grow thanks to eastbound trains

• FESCO’s success story in Vladivostok: ‘new Vietnam line is driving growth’

Regular service

This journey takes through China to Khorgos border with Kazakhstan. At this border the containers are reloaded to the 1520 gauge network, to be delivered by rail to their place of destination: the terminal of Chukursai in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The service is a regular one on the timetables, and will run twice a month in one direction. The service mostly transports car parts from Japan.

The first batch of 18 forty-foot containers shipped from port Yokohama is now located at the Kazakh-Chinese logistics terminal in the city of Lianyungang. Containers are scheduled to be dispatched by rail on 30 September 30.

FESCO’s strategy

FESCO commented that the intermodal service will enable it to develop alternative container delivery routes via Chinese ports, as well as increase its presence in countries of Central Asia, which is one of its new strategic directions.

The Russian company recorded record volumes in the first half of 2022. It moved 144,000 TEUs on its international network, a 21 per cent increase compared to the same period of the previous year. When it comes to intermodal transportation, FESCO registered a 10 per cent increase year-on-year. This increase, according to the company, was caused by a larger fleet capacity. More specifically, 3,184 new units have been added to the container fleet as well as 1,723 new 80-foot platform wagons.

Korea, Japan and Vietnam

The growth was demonstrated by the China Express, Korea Express and Japan Trans Siberia Line, but also and most particularly by its new Vietnam Direct Line. This service was launched in May 2022. As of the beginning of August, FESCO ships involved in the new service made four voyages and transported 2,050 TEU of export cargo and 2,200 TEU of import cargo.

Apart from the service to and from Vietnam, FESCO plans to launch new multimodal routes between Vladivostok and Indonesia, India, Taiwan and other countries of South-East Asia.

Vladivostok

FESCO controls the Commercial Port of Vladivostok, rail operators Transgarant and Dalreftrans, operator of container platforms Russkaya Troyka, dry terminal facilities in Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk and Tomsk. It is an asset that has only increased in importance since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, as trade between Russia and its eastern markets increased.

The potential for development of the Far Eastern port lies in the ability to extend long-distance connections to Japan and South Korea by short sea freight. At the same time, the port’s cargo can enter China directly from the east coast, providing an alternative to dangerous goods such as lithium batteries, which are banned by Chinese railways.

Hybrid drive

The complex fuel cell system that powers the new locomotive has been jointly developed by JR East and technology partners Hitachi and Toyota. Building on Toyota’s previous experience creating fuel cell electric road vehicles, the partners have sought to fine tune its proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology for use in rail operations.

A part of the proposed FV-E991 series, the new locomotive will be equipped with a hybrid system that uses a hydrogen fuel cell and a storage battery as its power sources. Instead of combusting fuel in air, the fuel cell system instead reacts hydrogen and oxygen within an electrolyte solution to generate electricity and produce water.

“The main circuit storage battery is charged by electric power from the fuel cell device and by capturing and converting energy to electric power using regenerative braking,” a spokesperson for Toyota explains. “The hybrid drive system supplies the electric power to the traction motors from both the fuel cell device and the main circuit storage battery, controlling the movement of the wheels.”

Hybrid drive system

Alongside the vehicle design and manufacturing expertise of JR East and Toyota’s PEM technology, the new locomotive will also benefit from Hitachi’s hybrid drive system, which allows the fuel cell to be supplemented by battery power. This will allow the train to reach a top speed of 100 kilometres per hour and to travel up to 140 kilometres on a single tank of hydrogen.

“Recently, progress is being made on the practical application of technologies for installing high-capacity lithium-ion batteries in rolling stock and using them for traction power. In particular, use of batteries in rolling stock that runs on non-electrified sections of track can save energy, minimize noise, and reduce maintenance requirements compared with conventional diesel railcars,” Yasuhiro Nagaura, Rolling Stock Electrical Systems Designer at Hitachi commented. “In the future, Hitachi will continue to meet a wide range of customer needs by drawing on the experience it has accumulated in battery-based technologies through its work on trains powered by batteries.”

High pressure capability

The train will be the world’s first locomotive capable of handling high-pressure hydrogen at 70 megapascals (Mpa).

“This enables long-distance rail travel that was difficult to achieve with 35 MPa fuel cell vehicles,” a spokesperson for JR East explains. “The configuration of this test train allows for field tests aimed at future commercialization and has specifications that could be easily applied to commercial use.”

The longer-range and potential pulling power of this system offers wide scope for deployment in rail freight operations, should initial tests prove positive, and although commercial services is not planned imminently, JR East expects that the new locomotive will ultimately replace its 440 diesel trains.

High anticipation

The project was first agreed in 2020 and has been driven by a desire to improve the environmental superiority of railways and deliver net zero operations.

“There is high anticipation for next-generation rolling stock that operates using clean energy, such as hydrogen,” Toyota states. “Hydrogen ensures minimal environmental impact as it does not emit any carbon dioxide when used as an energy source and it can be produced from various raw materials using renewable energy.”

There, they transferred on trains that travelled across the Trans-Siberian railway to St. Petersburg and then on vessels again heading to German, Dutch and Belgian ports.

In January, FESCO launched short sea freight services linking Japan to the Russian Far East, creating a network that touches key Japanese ports such as Toyama, Hakata, Kobe and Yokohama, and facilitating the transit of Japanese goods destined for Europe to Russia.

St Petersburg and Far East ports

The Russian Far East ports, especially Vladivostok, are gaining increasing market attention lately, with many investments targeting them. On the other hand, St. Petersburg has been presented as a great alternative gateway to Europe, while many call it the “Kaliningrad of the future”.

In the case of Vladivostok, the potential for development lies in the ability to extend Eurasian connections to Japan and South Korea by short sea freight. At the same time, the port’s cargo can enter China directly from the east coast, providing an alternative to dangerous goods such as lithium batteries, which are banned by Chinese railways. In 2020, Russian Far East ports handled 0,6 per cent of Central European cargo, while in the first nine months of 2021, this share rose to 1,7 per cent. This figure is expected to continue to grow in the future as more and more people look to avoid the congested border crossings on the New Silk Road.

The connection to Europe from St Petersburg, on the one hand, avoids the Polish/Belarusian border, which is both overloaded and threatened by political conflict and eliminates the hassle of changing between gauges. Therefore, it is considered a more efficient alternative route. However, St Petersburg’s high latitude and the challenges posed by cold winter weather have limited its development to some extent.

Also read:

• St. Petersburg: the new Silk Road alternative gateway?

• China-Europe express: St. Petersburg, the new hot transit hub

Shift to rail

Rhenus has until now focused on air and sea logistics services. With the new Eurasian rail freight service, it had made a conscious choice for rail. It noted that turnaround times can be up to 40 percent faster than ocean freight, and it can make financial savings compared to air freight.

The company is planning for weekly departures and door-to-door delivery. Patrick Dargel, General Manager of Rhenus Korea Branch, said, “With the spread of multimodal transport worldwide, the rail freight market in the Asia-Pacific region has great potential. Our introduction of rail transport services in Korea will help expand our existing The range of solutions provides customers with more reliable and customized options to smoothly plan their import and export needs.”

Value of rail

According to the data of the market research company Global Industry Analysts Inc., the global railway freight transportation market is valued at 159.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and is expected to reach 205.3 billion U.S. dollars by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.3 per cent.

Moreover, since the pandemic rail has freight has taken off even further, proving itself as one of the most shock-proof transportation modes. Well-known logistics giants in air and ocean shipping have joined the New Silk Road.

At the beginning of this year, shipping giants such as Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) opened the Japan-South Korea-Europe line through the Russian Far East ports. In addition, in September this year, Nissin Corporation (Nissin Corporation) and Russian Railways’ subsidiary Russian Railway Logistics Company signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the Japan-Russia-Europe sea-rail combined transport line.