Market potential and approaches of parcels and mail by high speed rail in China

Abstract

With the rapid development of the courier industry in China, moving a larger share of parcels and mail by rail especially high speed rail is becoming a potentially cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution for courier companies. This paper studied four approaches of parcels and mail by high speed rail in China. The inspecting train and passenger EMUs are currently in service for parcels transport and are also passenger trains. Coordinating extra freight carriages and running dedicated freight trains are actually incorporating freight trains into passenger-dedicated lines. We adopted field research to identify the applicability and obstacles of each approach. The Sensitivity analysis examined the feasibility of running dedicated freight trains on Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou and Shanghai-Guangzhou routes. The market potential of coordinating extra freight carriages is also discussed. This paper also made a preliminary cost and benefit analysis of these four approaches. Research showed that coordinating extra freight carriages is a viable short to medium term solution in terms of volume and cost. The dedicated freight train will be a long-term solution and be economically efficient when only variable cost is considered. However, the full cost based analysis is still necessary to support the final decision.