Spanish companies need to expand vision of Yiwu-Madrid train: expert

MADRID, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Spanish companies need to widen their perceptions of the train which crosses almost all of Europe and Asia to connect Madrid with China in order to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Asian market, Mao Wenjin, president of the Foundation for Exchange between Yiwu and Spain, told Xinhua.

The rail link which crosses around 13,000 km between Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang province in east China, and the Spanish capital opened in December 2014 and is a part of the Chinese government's Belt and Road Initiative.

The frequency of the connections has slowly but surely increased in the past three and a half years with two trains a week leaving Yiwu for Madrid and one travelling in the opposite direction. The train travelling to China is shorter in length than those going in the opposite direction.

The Yiwu-Madrid train also crosses eight borders (China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France and Spain) and also has to deal with changes in railway gauges, different wage conditions of the engine drivers and other railway workers and other issues specific to each of those countries.

These are clear problems for users, but the benefits are also there to be reaped.

"Spanish companies should have a wider viewpoint," said Mao. "That means, not just looking at logistical aspects, but to view China and Spain in issues such as commerce, culture and education to open the Chinese market," he added.

"Overall the project is working well and improving step by step, but such an important project needs the coordination of several countries and needs more Spanish companies, including the best known companies to participate," insisted Mao, who highlighted the train was both cheaper than air freight and faster than the sea journey between Spain and China.

He declared those factors made it ideal for shipping many products, while expressing doubts over whether the option was well enough among Spanish businesspeople.

"People don't know enough about the train," he continued, explaining to Xinhua work was being done to solve the issues caused by travelling through so many different countries.

Despite the problems, Mao was optimistic the use of the train would continue to grow and said several initiatives were underway to solve some of the issues.

"We are preparing mutual visits between Zhejiang province and Spain to promote the line. I am optimistic the project has a future and we will see more participation from Spanish companies," he said. Enditem