Staggered journeys<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In September 2019, the CCP Central Committee and the State Council published a plan for turning China into a \u201ctransportation powerhouse<\/a>\u201d that included reference to \u201cactively developing subway logistics in cities\u201d. Then, eight months ago, the use of the subway for logistics was noted in the MCT’s 2023 transportation work plan<\/a>. Line 4 and the Line 9 Fangshan\u2013Yanfang route, both in the west of Beijing, were selected for the first pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scheme comes as express delivery \u2013 which can mean anything from same day to within several business days \u2013 is booming in Beijing. In this city of nearly 22 million permanent residents, drivers collect and deliver around 15 million<\/a> packages daily. Most are transported by road, creating problems<\/a> such as traffic congestion, haphazard parking and stop-offs, air pollution and carbon emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Beijing\u2019s south-eastern Tongzhou district alone, industry publication China Logistics Times estimates<\/a> in 2021 that 577 tonnes of carbon was emitted from the dispatch of express deliveries, ferried from city sorting centres to distribution points in the district and then on to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, with an average of nearly 10 million people using<\/a> the Beijing subway each day, underground delivery must travel off peak to avoid passengers. For outbound trains on the Line 9 Fangshan\u2013Yanfang route, there is ample capacity<\/a> after 9am to allow for newspapers and periodicals to be transported; on that stretch of the network at that time of day, less than 20% of passenger capacity is used. Meanwhile, courier company SF Intra-City is trialling use of Line 4 on weekdays, departing with one batch of parcels at 12:30pm and another at 3:30pm, when capacity utilisation is less than 50%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than a month into the pilot, many in Beijing have spoken positively about it. One college student told<\/a> People\u2019s Daily that this form of couriering reduces traffic jams, while helping to protect the environment and lower emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shenzhen, China\u2019s third most populous city, is also looking to introduce express delivery by subway. On 18 August, Shenzhen Metro Group and SF Express, China\u2019s largest privately run logistics group, signed<\/a> an agreement to collaborate on \u201crail logistics\u201d. It will see dedicated subway carriages being used after the evening rush hour to transport freight along Line 11, from Futian Transportation Hub in the city centre to Bihaiwan station on the city\u2019s north-west outskirts. There, goods will be transferred to the SF Express cargo base at nearby Shenzhen International Airport for shipment domestically and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using a subway or other urban and suburban rail lines to deliver goods is not a new idea. Several European cities have done it, reaping environmental benefits in the process, as described in a 2013 study<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2003, Zurich launched its Cargo-Tram scheme, using the extensive tram network to collect and transport refuse in a bid to tackle the 300 tonnes of bulky waste being illegally dumped around the city each year. Collection points were set up at four tram stops to begin with, expanding to nine by 2005 following encouraging results. A study<\/a> found that in the course of 2004, compared to trucking, the scheme reduced CO2 emissions and air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulates. It also saved 37,500 litres of diesel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2007, Amsterdam launched the City Cargo<\/a> programme for transporting goods by tram. Cargo trams ran from 7am to 11pm, sharing tracks with, but not getting in the way of, passenger trams. Goods were offloaded at designated points and transferred to electric vehicles for last-mile delivery. The scheme aimed to reduce the number of commercial vehicles on Amsterdam\u2019s roads by 50%, while also cutting noise and air pollution. City Cargo ran successfully in its initial phase, but went bust after two years after failing to acquire sufficient investment. Conflicting objectives among stakeholders did not help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also in 2007, the French supermarket chain Monoprix began using the suburban metro line to transport non-perishable goods from depots on the outskirts of Paris into the city. From there, they were distributed to stores in low-emission, LNG-fuelled vans. By 2013, 90 supermarkets were being supplied in this way, up from the initial pool of 27. A study<\/a> that looked at the Paris project, showed that moving goods by metro, combined with low-emission vans, resulted in 47% less CO2 emissions annually compared with conventional distribution, along with 56% less nitrogen oxide, and 36% less particulate matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These examples show that it is not only feasible to adapt rail networks for moving goods within cities, but also an effective way to reduce air pollutants and CO2 emissions from traditional road transport. The key to successfully implementing and maintaining the \u201cexpress-delivery-by-subway\u201d model is to make it economically viable by bringing down the investment and operating costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daizong Liu, East Asia director at the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, a thinktank headquartered in the US, believes there could be advantages to moving goods by rail in China compared to, say, the US or Europe. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to achieve economies of scale and make money using express delivery by subway, because online consumption and parcel volume are higher in China than anywhere else,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should be noted that transportation within cities accounts for just a fraction of China\u2019s carbon emissions from deliveries. \u201cExpress delivery by subway should bring decent emissions reductions. But in the freight industry\u2026 the lion\u2019s share involves mainline city-to-city shipments,\u201d says Liu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"workers](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Postal-workers-sort-packages-at-a-logistics-centre_Alamy_2KEA6ME.jpg\")
<\/div>Rail delivery\u2019s environmental benefits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/20231218_a-cargo-tram-in-Zurich_Sven-Dowideit_Flickr.jpg\")
<\/div>Inter-city freight needs more attention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n