, Columnist
Railways Put China on a Belt and Road to Nowhere
More often than not, train transport is neither the most logical nor efficient way to move goods, and traffic remains dwarfed by maritime volumes.
Trains, planes nor automobiles beat boats in many cases.
Photographer: Taylor Weidman/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, what are we to make of China’s plans to build a Silk Road railway through the heart of Asia?
After all, those who think steel tracks are the best way to shift goods from the Pacific to the Atlantic have been able to use the Trans-Siberian Railway since 1916. In practice, the efficiency, flexibility, volumes and logistical simplicity of maritime freight have won out again, and again, and again.