China’s Orient Express through Europe

Chinese engineers are working on an ambitious project. Their latest plans are a train to take you from London to Beijing in two days.

The 200mph ‘Orient Express-style’ rail line China wants to build through Europe, the Middle East, India and Asia, they will also pay for, in return to access to the natural resources of the countries it travels through.

The main line would link London with Beijing via Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Kiev, St Petersburg, Moscow, Astana in Kazakhstan and Khabarovsk in Russia’s far east.

There would also be lines taking passengers to Turkmenistan, Iran and India – or – Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Wang Mengshu, Chinese railway consultant said it would take just two days for the 8,150 mile trip.

China already has the world’s fastest train at 250mph which links Wuhan and Guangzhou.

‘The best case scenario is that the three networks will be completed in a decade,’ Mr Wang said.

‘It was not China that pushed the idea to start with. It was the other countries that came to us.

‘These countries cannot fully-implement the construction of a high-speed rail network and they hope to draw on our experience and technology.’

Mr Wang said his country had offered to bankroll the stretch of railway through Burma in return for a share of the country’s lithium stores.

‘We would actually prefer the other countries to pay in natural resources rather than make their own capital investment,’ he said.