How those China-Europe 'Silk Road' trains first began

© Carmentianya

Did you know that the first China-Europe rail service was as early as 2008, on the insistence of Foxconn? No publicity and no media coverage surrounded the first pilot trains, which ran via Mongolia. Forbes has found the man who effectively created the service, head of logistics for Foxconn, who then moved on to HP. The route changed after Mongolia doubled its charges and, over time, HP realised it made more sense to open it to competitors. It now is faster, cheaper and more popular than before, but it still depends on Chinese government subsidies, the final hurdle.