鐵軌上的絲綢之路 The Silk Road

26歲的火車司機(jī)阿扎馬特·庫(kù)利耶諾夫(Azamat Kulyenov)將黑色的操縱桿向前推，1800噸重、近半英里長(zhǎng)的特快貨運(yùn)列車朝西面起動(dòng)，開(kāi)始穿越哈薩克斯坦東部廣袤荒涼的草原，距離中國(guó)邊境越來(lái)越遠(yuǎn)。

 

Dispatchers in the Kazakh border town of Dostyk gave this train priority over all other traffic, including passenger trains. Specially trained guards rode on board. Later in the trip, as the train traveled across desolate Eurasian steppes, guards toting AK-47 military assault rifles boarded the locomotive to keep watch for bandits who might try to drive alongside and rob the train. Sometimes, the guards would even sit on top of the steel shipping containers.

哈薩克斯坦邊境小鎮(zhèn)多斯特克的調(diào)度員給予這列貨車最高通行權(quán)限，優(yōu)先于包括客列在內(nèi)的其他所有列車。車上有受過(guò)特別訓(xùn)練的警衛(wèi)。在后來(lái)的旅程中，當(dāng)列車橫穿杳無(wú)人煙的歐亞大草原時(shí)，端著AK-47突擊步槍的警衛(wèi)登上火車頭，留意可能試圖開(kāi)到近旁搶劫列車的強(qiáng)盜。有時(shí)候，警衛(wèi)甚至還會(huì)坐到鋼質(zhì)集裝箱的頂上。

 

The train roughly follows the fabled Silk Road, the ancient route linking China and Europe that was used to transport spices, gems and, of course, silks before falling into disuse six centuries ago. Now the overland route is being resurrected for a new precious cargo: several million laptop computers and accessories made each year in China and bound for customers in European cities like London, Paris, Berlin and Rome.

這列火車基本沿著傳說(shuō)中的絲綢之路行駛。這條連接中國(guó)和歐洲的古道曾用于運(yùn)輸香料、珠寶，當(dāng)然還有絲綢，直到6個(gè)世紀(jì)前遭到棄用。如今這條陸上運(yùn)輸線因一種新的貴重貨物而得到復(fù)蘇，那就是每年在中國(guó)生產(chǎn)的數(shù)以百萬(wàn)計(jì)的筆記本電腦及配件，收貨方是倫敦、巴黎、柏林和羅馬等歐洲城市的客戶。

 

Hewlett-Packard, the Silicon Valley electronics company, has pioneered the revival of a route famous in the West since the Roman Empire. For the last two years, the company has shipped laptops and accessories to stores in Europe with increasing frequency aboard express trains that cross Central Asia at a clip of 50 miles an hour. Initially an experiment run in summer months, H.P. is now dispatching trains on the nearly 7,000-mile route at least once a week, and up to three times a week when demand warrants. H.P. plans to ship by rail throughout the coming winter, having taken elaborate measures to protect the cargo from temperatures that can drop to 40 degrees below zero.

硅谷電子企業(yè)惠普(Hewlett-Packard)率先重啟這條自羅馬帝國(guó)時(shí)期就聞名西方的線路。過(guò)去兩年，惠普越來(lái)越頻繁地借助以50英里（約合90公里）時(shí)速穿越中亞的特快列車，將筆記本電腦及配件運(yùn)送到歐洲的商店。最初，這不過(guò)是夏季月份的一種嘗試，現(xiàn)在，惠普會(huì)在這條7000英里長(zhǎng)的線路上每周至少發(fā)車一次，如果需求旺盛，還會(huì)增加到三次。惠普計(jì)劃今年冬季也通過(guò)鐵路運(yùn)輸，該公司采取了周全的措施，以保護(hù)貨物免受有時(shí)降至零下40度的低溫的損傷。

 

Though the route still accounts for just a small fraction of manufacturers’ overall shipments from China to Europe, other companies are starting to follow H.P.’s example. Chinese authorities announced on Wednesday the first of six long freight trains this year from Zhengzhou, a manufacturing center in central China, to Hamburg, Germany, following much the same route across western China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland as the H.P. trains. The authorities said they planned 50 trains on the route next year, hauling $1 billion worth of goods; the first train this month is carrying $1.5 million worth of tires, shoes and clothes, while the trains are to bring back German electronics, construction machinery, vehicles, auto parts and medical equipment.

盡管這條線路仍僅占從中國(guó)到歐洲的總貨運(yùn)量的一小部分，但其他一些公司也開(kāi)始追隨惠普的腳步。中國(guó)當(dāng)局最近宣布，今年將有6趟長(zhǎng)貨運(yùn)列車從華中制造業(yè)中心鄭州開(kāi)往德國(guó)的漢堡，首列于周三出發(fā)，其路線與惠普的列車大體相同，途經(jīng)中國(guó)西部、哈薩克斯坦、俄羅斯、白俄羅斯和波蘭。當(dāng)局還表示，明年這條路線將安排50趟貨運(yùn)列車，運(yùn)輸價(jià)值10億美元（約合62億元人民幣）的商品。本月的第一趟列車運(yùn)載價(jià)值150萬(wàn)美元的輪胎、鞋類和服裝，而回程列車上將運(yùn)載德國(guó)的電子產(chǎn)品、工程機(jī)械、整車、汽車部件和醫(yī)療器材。

 

DHL announced on June 20 that it had begun weekly express freight train service from Chengdu in western China across Kazakhstan and ultimately to Poland. Some of H.P.’s rivals in the electronics industry are in various stages of starting to use the route for exports from China, freight executives said.

DHL公司6月20日宣布，已開(kāi)通從中國(guó)西部的成都經(jīng)哈薩克斯坦抵達(dá)波蘭的每周特快貨運(yùn)列車服務(wù)。一些貨運(yùn)業(yè)高管披露，惠普的一些電子業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手正處于開(kāi)始采用這條線路從中國(guó)出口的不同階段。

 

The Silk Road was never a single route, but a web of paths taken by caravans of camels and horses that began around 120 B.C., when Xi’an in west-central China — best known for its terra cotta warriors — was China’s capital. The caravans started across the deserts of western China, traveled through the mountain ranges along China’s western borders with what are now Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and then journeyed across the sparsely populated steppes of Central Asia to the Caspian Sea and beyond.

絲綢之路從來(lái)就不是單一線路，而是騎著駱駝和馬的商隊(duì)所用的一個(gè)道路網(wǎng)。它始于公元前120年左右，那時(shí)中國(guó)的首都是中西部的長(zhǎng)安（這里最為出名的是兵馬俑）。這些商隊(duì)從穿越中國(guó)西部的荒漠地區(qū)啟程，然后翻越西部邊境（另一邊是今天的哈薩克斯坦和吉爾吉斯斯坦）的山脈，走過(guò)人煙稀少的中亞大草原，抵達(dá)里海或更遠(yuǎn)的地區(qū)。

 

These routes flourished through the Dark Ages and the early medieval period in Europe. But as maritime navigation expanded in the 1300s and 1400s, and as China’s political center shifted east to Beijing, China’s economic activity also moved toward the coast.

在歐洲的黑暗時(shí)代和中世紀(jì)早期，這些運(yùn)輸線持續(xù)繁榮。不過(guò)，隨著13世紀(jì)和14世紀(jì)航海的發(fā)展，以及中國(guó)的政治中心東移至北京，其經(jīng)濟(jì)活動(dòng)也轉(zhuǎn)移到了沿海地區(qū)。

 

Today, the economic geography is changing again. Labor costs in China’s eastern cities have surged in the last decade, so manufacturers are trying to reduce costs by moving production west to the nation’s interior. Trucking products from the new inland factories to coastal ports is costly and slow. High oil prices have made airfreight exorbitantly expensive and prompted the world’s container shipping lines to reduce sharply the speed of their vessels.

今天，經(jīng)濟(jì)版圖又一次處于變動(dòng)之中。過(guò)去10年，中國(guó)東部城市的勞動(dòng)力成本激增，制造商正試圖通過(guò)將生產(chǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移到內(nèi)陸地區(qū)來(lái)降低成本。采用卡車把產(chǎn)品從內(nèi)陸的新工廠運(yùn)輸?shù)窖睾５母劭诩劝嘿F又緩慢。高油價(jià)讓航空貨運(yùn)貴得離譜，還驅(qū)使全世界的集裝箱班輪公司大幅降低船速。

 

Slow steaming cuts oil consumption, but the resulting delays have infuriated shippers of high-value electronics goods like H.P’s. Such delays drive up their costs and make it harder to respond quickly to changes in consumer demand in distant markets.

慢速能降低油耗，但造成的延遲惹惱了惠普這樣的高價(jià)值電子商品的貨主。這種延遲推高了它們的成本，并讓它們更難以應(yīng)對(duì)遙遠(yuǎn)市場(chǎng)的消費(fèi)者需求變化。

 

Trucking goods from inland factories to the ports of Shenzhen or Shanghai on the coast and then sending the goods by ship around India and through the Suez Canal takes five weeks. The Silk Road train cuts the shipping time from western China to retail distribution centers in western Europe to three weeks. The sea route is still about 25 percent cheaper than sending goods by train, but the cost of the added time by sea is considerable.

采用卡車把商品從內(nèi)陸的工廠運(yùn)輸?shù)缴钲诨蛏虾５母劭冢缓笱b船啟運(yùn)，繞過(guò)印度、穿過(guò)蘇伊士運(yùn)河，這得花上5周時(shí)間。“絲綢之路”列車能把從中國(guó)西部到西歐零售配送中心的運(yùn)輸時(shí)間縮短到3周。海運(yùn)目前仍比鐵路運(yùn)輸大約便宜25%，不過(guò)海運(yùn)所需的額外時(shí)間所帶來(lái)的成本相當(dāng)可觀。

 

By switching from ocean freight to rail freight, “the inventory costs and lead times will see a lot of improvement,” said Jonney Shih, the chairman of Asustek, the world’s third-largest player in the global market for tablet computers, after Apple and Samsung. His company, too, has begun to experiment with the Silk Road.

華碩(Asustek)董事長(zhǎng)施崇棠(Jonney Shih)表示，從海運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)為鐵路運(yùn)輸，“庫(kù)存成本和交貨期將有極大改善。”華碩是全球第三大平板電腦制造商，僅次于蘋果和三星。施崇棠的公司也開(kāi)始試水絲綢之路。

 

Scrambling for Rail Traffic

競(jìng)相采用鐵路運(yùn)輸

Best known in the West as the Nationalist capital of China during World War II, Chongqing is now a smoggy metropolis, its city center perched on a bluff wrapped in a bend of the Yangtze River. The urban population of Chongqing is approaching 13 million, while an additional 15 million live in nearby rural areas that also lie within Chongqing’s administrative borders.

在西方，重慶最出名的是二戰(zhàn)期間被國(guó)民黨政府用作“陪都”，如今它是一座霧都，市中心坐落在揚(yáng)子江河灣包圍的峭壁之上。重慶的市區(qū)人口接近1300萬(wàn)，另有1500萬(wàn)人生活在附近的農(nóng)村地區(qū)，也在重慶市的行政管轄區(qū)內(nèi)。

 

Deng Xiaoping began opening China to foreign investment in the late 1970s, and for the next quarter-century Chongqing was a place that people fled, seeking better-paying jobs on the coast. But in the last few years, it has emerged as an industrial hub of western China, attracting multinationals like the chemical giant BASF and the Ford Motor Company. H.P. took the first steps to move production west from Shanghai four years ago. Now its contractors employ 80,000 workers in Chongqing, making 20 million laptops and 15 million printers a year.

上世紀(jì)70年代末，鄧小平帶領(lǐng)中國(guó)走上開(kāi)放的道路，開(kāi)始吸引外國(guó)投資。在接下來(lái)的四分之一個(gè)世紀(jì)里，重慶是人口流出地，人們紛紛到沿海地區(qū)尋找薪水更高的就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)。但在最近幾年，重慶崛起為中國(guó)西部的工業(yè)中心，吸引了化工巨擘巴斯夫(BASF)和福特汽車(Ford Motor Company)這樣的跨國(guó)企業(yè)。四年前，惠普開(kāi)始將生產(chǎn)從上海轉(zhuǎn)移到西部。如今，惠普的代工廠在重慶雇傭了8萬(wàn)名工人，年產(chǎn)2000萬(wàn)臺(tái)筆記本電腦和1500萬(wàn)臺(tái)打印機(jī)。

 

Foxconn, the big Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer, has twice as many workers in nearby Chengdu, mainly making Apple iPads, and has been shifting production there from Shenzhen.

大型臺(tái)灣電子產(chǎn)品代工制造商富士康(Foxconn)在附近的成都市雇傭了兩倍于上述人數(shù)的工人，主要制造蘋果的iPad。該公司也在把深圳的生產(chǎn)活動(dòng)陸續(xù)轉(zhuǎn)移到這里。

 

Tony Prophet, a senior vice president at H.P., said the company began thinking about a rail route west almost as soon as it started production in Chongqing. The company, Mr. Prophet said, was pursuing a strategy of moving products, not people: instead of encouraging a migration from inland provinces to coastal factories, H.P. would manufacture in the inland provinces and then ship the products from there.

惠普的高級(jí)副總裁托尼·普羅菲特(Tony Prophet)表示，在重慶開(kāi)始生產(chǎn)后，該公司幾乎馬上就開(kāi)始考慮西行的鐵路線。他還稱，惠普的策略是轉(zhuǎn)移產(chǎn)品，而不是轉(zhuǎn)移人：與其鼓勵(lì)內(nèi)陸省份的人到沿海地區(qū)的工廠工作，不如在內(nèi)陸省份進(jìn)行生產(chǎn)，然后從那里發(fā)運(yùn)產(chǎn)品。

 

To attract the company, the city built an extra runway at its airport long enough to accommodate Boeing 747 cargo jets. Airfreight to Europe takes only one week, including customs processing.

為了吸引惠普，重慶市在機(jī)場(chǎng)新建了一條長(zhǎng)度足以讓波音747貨運(yùn)飛機(jī)起降的跑道。從這里將貨物空運(yùn)到歐洲只需一周時(shí)間，包括辦理海關(guān)手續(xù)在內(nèi)。

But persistently high oil prices made the cost of airfreight daunting — as much as seven times the cost of rail freight. H.P. was also concerned about the carbon emissions involved in airfreight, which are 30 times those of the rail or sea routes.

但是，油價(jià)持續(xù)高企讓空運(yùn)成本高得可怕，相當(dāng)于鐵路運(yùn)輸?shù)?倍。惠普還對(duì)空運(yùn)產(chǎn)生的碳排放量感到擔(dān)憂，因?yàn)樗喈?dāng)于鐵路或海運(yùn)的30倍。

 

Trucking computers to the coast and then putting them on ships meant tying up huge sums of money in the inventory hauled across the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. That delay would make it hard to shift sales strategies quickly in Europe if competitors came up with breakthrough products. So H.P. began looking at going west by land, across Kazakhstan.

用卡車將電腦運(yùn)到沿海地區(qū)，再將它們裝船運(yùn)出，意味著有大筆資金被套在穿越南海和印度洋的庫(kù)存上。一旦競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手發(fā)布突破性產(chǎn)品，這種延遲將使企業(yè)難以迅速調(diào)整歐洲的銷售策略。于是，惠普開(kāi)始尋找穿越哈薩克斯坦的西行陸路運(yùn)輸線。

President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has been encouraging this idea. Last December, he called for his country to upgrade its rail network as a way to reclaim its historical role as the crossroads of Asia. “We are reviving a New Silk Road,” he said, “by setting up a Western Europe-Western China transportation corridor.”

 

哈薩克斯坦總統(tǒng)努爾蘇丹·A·納扎爾巴耶夫(Nursultan A. Nazarbayev)一直對(duì)這個(gè)想法加以鼓勵(lì)。去年12月，他要求哈薩克斯坦升級(jí)鐵路網(wǎng)，重拾該國(guó)在歷史上曾經(jīng)扮演的亞洲十字路口的角色。他說(shuō)，“我們正在修建連接西歐和中國(guó)西部的運(yùn)輸走廊，重筑一條新絲綢之路。”

Kazakhstan, which already has 8,700 miles of rail, is rapidly building new rail routes to its borders with China in the east and Turkmenistan to the south. One goal is to connect China through Turkmenistan to Iran, assuming that the political situation in Iran improves, said Kanat K. Alpysbayev, the vice president for logistics at Kazakh National Railways. The Kazakh rail authority is also negotiating to help fix and manage the rail network in Afghanistan, where Chinese companies are building a vast copper mine.

 

哈薩克斯坦境內(nèi)已有8700英里的鐵路線，現(xiàn)在正在快速修建東至中國(guó)邊境、南到土庫(kù)曼斯坦的新鐵路。哈薩克斯坦國(guó)家鐵路有限公司(Kazakh National Railways)負(fù)責(zé)物流工作的副總裁卡納特·K·阿爾普斯巴耶夫(Kanat K. Alpysbayev)稱，他們的目標(biāo)之一是將中國(guó)和伊朗經(jīng)土庫(kù)曼斯坦連接起來(lái)，前提是伊朗的政治局勢(shì)有所改善的話。哈薩克斯坦鐵路部門也正在就修復(fù)并管理阿富汗的鐵路網(wǎng)進(jìn)行談判。中國(guó)企業(yè)正在那里修建一座大型銅礦。

The effort to move more cargo from China to Europe by rail received considerable help from a development so obscure that few outside the transport sector initially noticed it. Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus created a customs union that took full effect in January 2012, eliminating lengthy inspections at their borders with one another. The measure saved days of transit time and greatly reduced pilferage.

將更多的貨物從中國(guó)經(jīng)鐵路運(yùn)往歐洲的努力，得到了一項(xiàng)發(fā)展的有力幫助。但這件事如此不引入注目，以至于運(yùn)輸業(yè)以外最初幾乎沒(méi)有人注意到。哈薩克斯坦、俄羅斯和白俄羅斯創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)2012年1月全面生效的海關(guān)聯(lián)盟，取消了穿越三國(guó)邊境時(shí)冗長(zhǎng)的海關(guān)檢查。此舉為運(yùn)輸節(jié)省了好幾天時(shí)間，還大大減少了貨物失竊的情況。

The Kazakhstan rail initiative has spurred regional competition. On June 21, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia announced a $43 billion infrastructure plan focused heavily on improving rail links to China, notably through improvements to the trans-Siberian railroad. The competition is ultimately a positive for manufacturers that make goods in China, like H.P.

哈薩克斯坦的鐵路計(jì)劃刺激了地區(qū)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的出現(xiàn)。6月21日，俄羅斯總統(tǒng)弗拉基米爾·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)宣布了一項(xiàng)430億美元基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)計(jì)劃，該計(jì)劃主要是為了升級(jí)與中國(guó)相連的鐵路，特別是改善西伯利亞大鐵路的狀況。這一競(jìng)爭(zhēng)最終給那些在中國(guó)制造產(chǎn)品的生產(chǎn)商帶來(lái)好處，比如惠普公司。

The journey of H.P. computers and accessories begins in Chongqing with workers like Zheng Xiaoxue. A cheerful 18-year-old, she was raised by her grandparents on the outskirts of Chongqing; her parents had migrated to work at a plastics factory near Hong Kong in Shenzhen, where wages and benefits now reach $500 a month.

 

惠普的電腦和零配件的旅程，始于重慶鄭曉雪（音譯）這樣的工人手里。鄭曉雪是個(gè)開(kāi)朗的18歲女孩，從小在重慶郊區(qū)的祖父母家里長(zhǎng)大；她的父母曾在深圳的一家塑料廠工作。毗鄰香港的深圳現(xiàn)在的工資水平已達(dá)到每月500美元。

But her parents have now returned home, complaining that the food in Shenzhen was bland and unappetizing compared with the fiery Sichuan cuisine they preferred. So instead of migrating, Ms. Zheng chose a job paying $190 a month, as well as free room and board, at a Taiwanese-run factory making notebook computers for H.P.

但是她的父母現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)回家，抱怨深圳的飯菜和他們喜歡的川菜相比平淡無(wú)味，讓人沒(méi)胃口。所以鄭曉雪沒(méi)有出遠(yuǎn)門打工，而是找了一家為惠普生產(chǎn)筆記本電腦的臺(tái)資廠打工，月工資為190美元，公司提供食宿。

“At work, we speak Mandarin, but after work, we mostly speak Sichuanese — almost all of us are from Sichuan,” Ms. Zheng said, while downing a free plate of pork and cabbage for dinner in the factory cafeteria.

鄭曉雪一邊吃著工廠食堂里免費(fèi)提供的豬肉燉白菜一邊說(shuō)，“工作時(shí)我們說(shuō)普通話，但是下班以后，我們主要說(shuō)四川話，因?yàn)閹缀跛腥硕际撬拇ㄈ恕?rdquo;

For the train that Mr. Kulyenov would drive, workers loaded finished laptops into 43 of H.P.’s specially designed dark blue containers, each 40 feet long, 8 feet wide and 9 feet 6 inches high, and loaded computer monitors into seven more identical containers. The 50 containers were sealed shut with a series of locks and loaded onto a train at the Chongqing rail yard, which left the station on June 14.

在庫(kù)利耶諾夫?qū)⒁{駛的那列火車上，工人們將成品筆記本電腦裝入43個(gè)特別設(shè)計(jì)的惠普深藍(lán)色集裝箱，再將電腦顯示器裝入另外7個(gè)同樣的集裝箱。這些集裝箱每個(gè)長(zhǎng)40英尺（約合12米）、寬8英尺，高9英尺6英寸。這50個(gè)集裝箱用一串串的鎖鎖得嚴(yán)嚴(yán)實(shí)實(shí)，然后在重慶鐵路集裝箱中心站被裝上火車。這列火車在6月14日出發(fā)。

It would take five days for the train, carrying nothing but H.P. equipment, to cross 2,000 miles of western China to reach the eastern border of Kazakhstan.

 

這列滿載惠普產(chǎn)品的專列要用5天時(shí)間穿過(guò)中國(guó)西部2000英里的路程，到達(dá)哈薩克斯坦的東部邊境。

An Unexpected Delay

意外的延遲

The train was punctual in reaching the Dzungarian Gate, a low, wide valley through the snow-capped mountain ranges that separates China and Kazakhstan. Chinese customs officers there opened documents that had been sealed since the shipment left Chongqing. For 49 of the 50 containers, the documents matched the cargo in every detail.

這列火車準(zhǔn)時(shí)到達(dá)了低矮寬闊的準(zhǔn)噶爾山口。準(zhǔn)噶爾山口是一個(gè)穿過(guò)分隔中國(guó)和哈薩克斯坦的雪山的谷地。那里的中國(guó)海關(guān)人員打開(kāi)從重慶啟運(yùn)以來(lái)一直被密封的報(bào)關(guān)文件。50個(gè)集裝箱中，有49個(gè)的文件與貨物完全相符。

But for one of the laptop computer containers, the numbers didn’t match. The documents showed that the total weight of one container was 10,135 kilograms. But the scale showed that the container weighed 10,153 kilograms — a difference of just two digits, transposed accidentally.

但是，有一個(gè)裝著筆記本電腦的集裝箱的數(shù)據(jù)對(duì)不上。文件顯示，這個(gè)集裝箱的重量是10.135噸，但是稱重的儀器上顯示它的重量為10.153噸，末尾兩位數(shù)字恰好相互顛倒。

Hours passed on the Kazakh side as H.P. and its shipping agents hustled to amend the paperwork, which was not easy because the error was discovered at the end of a workday. After thundering across China, through Xi’an, across a corner of the Gobi Desert and skirting the vast arid wastes of the Taklamakan Desert, where temperatures can hit 120 degrees, the train simply sat. For 26 hours.

列車停在哈薩克斯坦邊境，時(shí)間一個(gè)小時(shí)又一個(gè)小時(shí)地過(guò)去，惠普及其貨運(yùn)代理商匆忙修改文件，這并非易事，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)差錯(cuò)是在那天快下班時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)的。這列火車在隆隆駛過(guò)西安、戈壁沙漠一角以及塔克拉瑪干沙漠廣袤的不毛之地（氣溫可高達(dá)120華氏度）后，就這樣一動(dòng)不動(dòng)地停著。足足26個(gè)小時(shí)。

Such extreme delays are unusual — H.P. managers say the longest previous delay was 10 hours, at the Belarus-Poland border. Sea shipments have sometimes been delayed up to three days because of bad weather and other problems.

 

 

惠普管理人員說(shuō)，這種極端的延誤十分少見(jiàn)，此前的紀(jì)錄是在白俄羅斯和波蘭邊境耽誤了10個(gè)小時(shí)。海運(yùn)有時(shí)會(huì)因?yàn)閻毫犹鞖獾仍蜃疃嗟⒄`3天時(shí)間。

H.P. has made strenuous efforts to keep the products moving, sending representatives to remote Central Asian border crossings to explain its plans, said Ronald Kleijwegt, the company’s director of logistics for Europe, the Mideast and Africa.

惠普公司歐洲、中東和非洲物流負(fù)責(zé)人羅納德·克萊基維格特(Ronald Kleijwegt)說(shuō)，公司竭力確保產(chǎn)品運(yùn)輸，派代表前往偏遠(yuǎn)的中亞邊境關(guān)口，說(shuō)明公司的計(jì)劃。

H.P. helped China overhaul its software for processing customs documents. China’s previous system allowed clerks to choose only an adjacent country in Asia as the final destination for rail shipments, Mr. Kleijwegt said, because no one had envisioned that exports in sealed rail cars might be sent nearly 7,000 miles to destinations in Europe.

惠普幫助中國(guó)全面升級(jí)了處理海關(guān)文件的軟件。克萊基維格特說(shuō)，中國(guó)以前的系統(tǒng)只能讓海關(guān)人員選擇一個(gè)亞洲鄰國(guó)作為鐵路運(yùn)輸?shù)淖罱K目的地，因?yàn)闆](méi)有人預(yù)想到，這些火車上的貨物會(huì)是被發(fā)往近7000英里外的歐洲目的地的出口產(chǎn)品。

The company also negotiated special customs clearance, permitting its containers to stay locked and uninspected at border crossings along the route, although the containers are X-rayed for contraband. That was mostly to shorten the time needed for the trip, but also for security. Two years ago, H.P. sent 200 computers in a single, unsealed container as a test shipment on a general-purpose freight train. The shipment went through comprehensive customs checks at border crossings. By the time the train reached Germany, many of the computers had disappeared.

惠普還通過(guò)談判爭(zhēng)取到了特別的清關(guān)程序，讓該公司的集裝箱在沿途穿越邊境時(shí)不受開(kāi)箱檢查，而只是接受X光掃描，以檢查是否裝有走私物品。這主要是為了縮短運(yùn)輸過(guò)程所需的時(shí)間，但也保障了安全。兩年前，惠普公司曾做過(guò)一次發(fā)貨試驗(yàn)，在一列普通的貨運(yùn)列車上用一個(gè)未密封的集裝箱發(fā)運(yùn)200臺(tái)電腦。這批貨物在通關(guān)時(shí)經(jīng)過(guò)繁瑣的海關(guān)檢查，等火車到達(dá)德國(guó)時(shí)，其中很多電腦早就不翼而飛了。

 

 

‘Much Respect on the Track’

‘鐵軌上的極大尊重’

Once the problem of the transposed numbers was cleared up, the train crossed into Kazakhstan. An overhead crane and two cranes that looked like cottages on wheels lifted the H.P. containers off the Chinese train, and loaded them onto flat cars with wider wheel gauges in the rail yard in Dostyk on the Kazakh side of the border. Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus, all traversed on the trip, have wide rails inherited from the Soviet rail system. China and Europe have narrower rails, so cargo transfers take several hours.

數(shù)字錯(cuò)位的問(wèn)題解決后，火車駛?cè)肓斯_克斯坦。一臺(tái)橋式起重機(jī)和兩臺(tái)像裝了輪子的房屋一樣的起重機(jī)將惠普的集裝箱從中國(guó)的火車上吊起來(lái)，放到哈薩克境內(nèi)停在多斯特克調(diào)度場(chǎng)里的平板車上。這些火車的輪距更寬。列車要經(jīng)過(guò)哈薩克斯坦、俄羅斯和白俄羅斯，這些國(guó)家的鐵軌沿用蘇聯(lián)時(shí)代的寬軌標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。中國(guó)和歐洲的鐵軌較窄，因此需要幾個(gè)小時(shí)轉(zhuǎn)移貨物。

Mr. Kulyenov, a freight train driver fourth class who dreams of being promoted someday to reach the rank of passenger train driver first class, considered himself lucky to be driving the train. Sitting in the cab of a new diesel locomotive, he waited in the Dostyk rail yard for a messenger in a bright yellow safety jacket to bring him a computer printout of his cargo. When the printout arrived, he carefully made notations in the locomotive’s purple velvet-bound log book, a concession to tradition, then typed many of the same weight details into a dashboard computer that helps precisely calibrate the engine for pulling each load.

庫(kù)利耶諾夫是個(gè)四級(jí)貨運(yùn)火車司機(jī)，夢(mèng)想著有一天能成為一級(jí)客運(yùn)火車司機(jī)。他認(rèn)為自己能開(kāi)這列火車很幸運(yùn)。他在多斯特克調(diào)度場(chǎng)坐在一輛新的柴油機(jī)車的駕駛室里，等著一個(gè)穿有亮黃色安全背心的信使拿來(lái)車上貨物的打印清單。拿到打印單之后，他按照傳統(tǒng)，認(rèn)真地在這輛機(jī)車紫色的絨面記錄本里做著記錄，然后在儀表盤的一臺(tái)電腦上輸入很多同樣的重量數(shù)據(jù)，以幫助校準(zhǔn)引擎，使其在最優(yōu)狀態(tài)下拉動(dòng)貨物。

When the signal lights ahead turned from red to green, Mr. Kulyenov moved the huge train smoothly out of the yard. “It’s a new engine; it’ll have no problem,” he said.

 

 

當(dāng)前方的信號(hào)燈由紅轉(zhuǎn)綠，庫(kù)利耶諾夫緩緩啟動(dòng)這列龐然大物，平穩(wěn)駛出調(diào)度場(chǎng)。“這輛機(jī)車是新的；不會(huì)有問(wèn)題，”他說(shuō)。

The locomotive was built at a new factory in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, by a Russian-Kazakh joint venture that licensed the design from General Electric. The locomotive’s body, generator, radiator and wheels are made in Kazakhstan, but G.E. exports the diesel engine from Erie, Pa. — although G.E. and the joint venture are making plans to start building a diesel engine factory in Astana as well next year.

火車頭是在哈薩克斯坦首都阿斯塔納的一座新工廠里制造的。擁有該廠的是一家俄羅斯和哈薩克斯坦的合資企業(yè)，它取得了使用通用電氣(General Electric)設(shè)計(jì)的授權(quán)。火車頭的車身、發(fā)電機(jī)、冷卻器和車輪在哈薩克斯坦制造，不過(guò)柴油引擎由通用電氣在賓夕法尼亞州伊利的工廠出口。通用電氣與這家合資企業(yè)正在策劃，明年開(kāi)始在阿斯塔納建造一家柴油引擎廠。

As the train moved forward, the lattice of train tracks in the rail yard narrowed to three, then two and then one that headed off across the flat grasslands of the steppe. Mr. Kulyenov and the assistant driver next to him, Alexander Nemtzev, 31, glanced around for the small flock of two-humped Bactrian camels that live near the rail line. They were nowhere in sight.

隨著火車?yán)^續(xù)前行，調(diào)度場(chǎng)的鐵道減少到三條，隨后并為兩條，最后合為一條，朝著平坦的歐亞大草原延伸，一眼望不到頭。庫(kù)利耶諾夫和身旁的副駕駛、31歲的亞歷山大·涅姆采夫(Alexander Nemtzev)四處張望，尋找著生活在鐵路線旁的小型雙峰駝群。它們沒(méi)有出現(xiàn)。

A few Kazakh houses lay long and low against the wind, with whitewashed walls, tile roofs and mastiffs prowling out front. Herders on horseback, wearing pointy woolen knit caps, tended flocks of sheep, cattle and horses.

幾棟哈薩克斯坦的長(zhǎng)矮房迎風(fēng)挺立，外墻刷成白色、屋頂蓋著瓦片，大馴犬在屋前徘徊。馬背上的牧人戴著尖頂毛織帽，趕著牛羊馬群。

Mr. Kulyenov marveled at how quickly freight trains headed in the opposite direction moved onto sidings to make way for his high-priority shipment.

對(duì)面方向的火車迅速轉(zhuǎn)到邊道上，給庫(kù)利耶諾夫駕駛的這輛擁有最高通行權(quán)的車讓路，速度之快讓他驚嘆。

“This is the first time I’ve driven the H.P. train,” said Mr. Kulyenov, who has been a train driver for eight years, “and the first time I’ve seen so much respect on the track.”

已經(jīng)當(dāng)了八年火車司機(jī)的庫(kù)利耶諾夫說(shuō)，“這是我第一次開(kāi)惠普專列，也是第一次在鐵軌上受到如此的尊重。”

China’s smog was far behind, swept away by the crystalline air of the high, barren steppes. Dawns and sunsets played on the horizon in nearly hourlong shows of pink, mauve and purple. Kazakhstan looks a bit like North Dakota; both grow a lot of wheat. But Kazakhstan is slightly larger than the United States east of the Mississippi River, with fewer people than Florida.

中國(guó)的霧霾被遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)甩在了身后，高海拔的貧瘠大草原上清透的空氣將其一掃而空。黎明和日落的時(shí)候，天邊呈現(xiàn)近一小時(shí)的粉紅、淡紫和深紫交織的光影。哈薩克斯坦看起來(lái)有點(diǎn)像北達(dá)科他州，兩地都大量種植小麥。哈薩克斯坦領(lǐng)土略大于密西西比河以東的美國(guó)，但人口比佛羅里達(dá)州還少。

The train was not built for comfort. There were no bunks for sleeping, or even bathrooms. Just as the Pony Express of the American West relied on a series of riders to carry the mail, the H.P. train relies on a new driver, assistant driver and guards to board the locomotive at stops every three or four hours. Even the locomotives are replaced with fresh ones every third or fourth stop. At each stop, railway guards dressed in black or military fatigues hustle up and down the train, checking the cars for signs of tampering. Over the course of each three-week journey, more than 100 drivers and guards board the train.

這列火車在設(shè)計(jì)中沒(méi)有考慮司機(jī)的舒適。沒(méi)有臥鋪，就連廁所也沒(méi)有。正如舊時(shí)美國(guó)西部的驛馬快信靠一連串騎手接力遞信一樣，惠普專列靠的是每隔三、四個(gè)小時(shí)靠站，換一名駕駛員、一名副駕駛和一群警衛(wèi)。就連機(jī)車本身也會(huì)在三、四個(gè)站后換成新的。每次停靠，身穿黑色制服或迷彩軍服的鐵路警察會(huì)沿著列車快速巡視一番，檢查車上是否被人動(dòng)過(guò)手腳。每趟為期三周的旅程期間，登車的駕駛員和警衛(wèi)超過(guò)100名。

 

To Mr. Kulyenov and Mr. Nemtzev, the Silk Road is an abstraction, a little-remembered historical detail studied in school. Mr. Nemtzev, who grew up in easternmost Kazakhstan, remembered how he would play with little plastic trains as a boy and yearned to drive real trains someday. “I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” he said as the headlights traversed a vast emptiness. We traveled for nearly an hour at one point without illuminating a single house, car or person anywhere near the tracks.

對(duì)庫(kù)利耶諾夫和涅姆采夫而言，絲綢之路是個(gè)抽象的概念，是上學(xué)時(shí)念過(guò)的歷史細(xì)節(jié)，幾乎完全記不得了。涅姆采夫在哈薩克斯坦的最東部長(zhǎng)大，記得自己小時(shí)候拿塑料小火車當(dāng)玩具，渴望長(zhǎng)大了能開(kāi)真正的火車。“我從來(lái)就沒(méi)想過(guò)干別的，”他這樣說(shuō)道。火車前燈穿透廣袤的空地，我們一度走了近一個(gè)小時(shí)，卻沒(méi)照到鐵軌附近有任何房屋、車輛或人煙。

An hour after sunset, Mr. Kulyenov and Mr. Nemtzev were replaced by the next pair of drivers. Vladimir Kolozorkin, 52, took over as the main driver. With a gray crew cut and an uncanny ability to distinguish complex patterns of railway signal lights at enormous distances, he greeted visitors with a gruff warning that rules strictly prohibited distracting the driver in any way.

日落后一小時(shí)，庫(kù)利耶諾夫和涅姆采夫被另兩名司機(jī)接替。52歲的弗拉基米爾·科洛佐爾金(Vladimir Kolozorkin)成為主駕駛。他留著平頭，發(fā)色灰白，擁有遠(yuǎn)距離分辨鐵路信號(hào)燈復(fù)雜組合的神奇本領(lǐng)。看到訪客，他不客氣地警告，相關(guān)規(guī)則嚴(yán)禁以任何形式干擾駕駛員。

But he mellowed as the hours passed, saying that he remembered from his early boyhood in eastern Kazakhstan how camel caravans, a fixture on the Silk Road for two millenniums, had still traveled to mountain villages.

然而，隨著時(shí)間的流逝，他緩和下來(lái)，說(shuō)他記得在童年時(shí)的哈薩克斯坦東部，駱駝商隊(duì)——絲綢之路兩千年來(lái)的象征——仍在山里的村子巡回經(jīng)商。

“They were used to go places you couldn’t reach in a car,” he recalled. “In the old days, people used them for caravans, but now they’re just kept for the wool, the meat and the milk.”

 

“那時(shí)，駱駝被用于前往開(kāi)車到不了的那些地方，”他回憶道。“在過(guò)去，人們用駱駝來(lái)組成商隊(duì)。但現(xiàn)在，養(yǎng)駱駝只是為了毛、肉和奶。”

China to Holland, in 21 Days

21天，從中國(guó)到荷蘭

When the train reached the Belarus-Poland border, the containers had to be moved again to flat cars with a narrower wheel gauge. While 41 flat cars headed on across Europe right away, 9 more had to wait for a separate locomotive because the train would otherwise exceed European regulations for a freight train’s maximum length. The first train reached Duisburg, Germany, on July 3, or 19 days after the containers left Chongqing. Trucks then took the containers overnight to their final destination, H.P.’s European distribution center, in Oostrum, the Netherlands.

當(dāng)火車抵達(dá)白俄羅斯和波蘭的邊境時(shí)，集裝箱必須再次轉(zhuǎn)移到輪距較窄的平板車上。41節(jié)平板車立即向著歐洲內(nèi)陸進(jìn)發(fā)，剩下的9節(jié)不得不等待另一輛機(jī)車，因?yàn)?0節(jié)車廂超過(guò)了歐盟規(guī)定的貨運(yùn)火車最大長(zhǎng)度。第一列火車在7月3日，即集裝箱離開(kāi)重慶19天之后，抵達(dá)了德國(guó)的杜伊斯堡。隨后，卡車把集裝箱連夜拉到最終目的地：荷蘭奧斯塔姆的惠普歐洲配送中心。

All 50 containers, including the nine that left Poland later, ended up arriving in Oostrum in 21 days, or three weeks. Ask ocean shipping executives about the possible challenge from the new Central Asian rail route and they say that it will not take away enough business to affect their bottom lines.

包括隨后離開(kāi)波蘭的那9個(gè)集裝箱，全部50個(gè)集裝箱最終抵達(dá)奧斯塔姆的時(shí)間是21天，即3周。海運(yùn)公司高管在被問(wèn)及中亞新鐵路線可能帶來(lái)的挑戰(zhàn)時(shí)表示，鐵路運(yùn)輸搶走的業(yè)務(wù)將不足以影響他們的盈利。

Kazakhstan forecasts that rail freight will grow to 7.5 million 40-foot containers by 2020, from just 2,500 transported from western China to Europe last year. That would be a huge increase that could sorely tax Kazakhstan’s rail network; Mr. Alpysbayev said plans were under way to build extra tracks to help handle the traffic. But even at 7.5 million containers, rail freight transiting Kazakhstan would still be only a tenth of ocean freight between Europe and Asia.

 

哈薩克斯坦預(yù)測(cè)，到2020年，鐵路貨運(yùn)將增長(zhǎng)至750萬(wàn)個(gè)40英尺集裝箱，而去年從中國(guó)西部運(yùn)輸?shù)綒W洲的僅有2500個(gè)集裝箱。這一巨大增長(zhǎng)可能會(huì)給哈薩克斯坦的鐵路網(wǎng)帶來(lái)極大壓力；阿爾普斯巴耶夫稱，已制訂了鋪設(shè)更多鐵軌的計(jì)劃，以應(yīng)對(duì)流量。但即便達(dá)到750萬(wàn)個(gè)集裝箱的水平，經(jīng)過(guò)哈薩克斯坦的鐵路貨運(yùn)量將仍只有歐亞之間海運(yùn)的十分之一。

Mr. Prophet, the H.P. vice president, said that despite the occasional delays — like the 26 hours at the Kazakh border — the company still planned to shift more shipments from sea freight, and especially from airfreight, to rail. The journey to Europe can take as little as 18 or 19 days by rail, but to allow for delays, H.P. doesn’t plan for the train to arrive in fewer than 22 days, he noted.

惠普副總裁普羅菲特說(shuō)，盡管偶爾會(huì)有延誤——例如在哈薩克斯坦邊境的26個(gè)小時(shí)——該公司仍計(jì)劃把更多的海運(yùn)和空運(yùn)（尤其是后者）改為鐵路運(yùn)輸。他指出，到歐洲的鐵路運(yùn)輸可能只需18到19天，但考慮到可能出現(xiàn)延誤，惠普在規(guī)劃中允許火車至少花22天到達(dá)。

Zhengzhou’s and DHL’s move to offer regularly scheduled rail service across Kazakhstan, not to mention the lengthening list of industries trying the route, suggests that despite the occasional customs delay, many companies now share H.P.’s view that the Silk Road has re-emerged as a viable transport route.

且不提準(zhǔn)備嘗試這條路線的行業(yè)清單越來(lái)越長(zhǎng)，鄭州和DHL開(kāi)通經(jīng)過(guò)哈薩克斯坦的鐵路班車服務(wù)表明，盡管偶然會(huì)有海關(guān)延誤，許多公司現(xiàn)在同意惠普的觀點(diǎn)，即絲綢之路已再度成為一條可行的運(yùn)輸線路。

“They were all highly interested,” Mr. Kleijwegt of H.P. said, “but wanted to see someone else prove it.”

“它們都非常感興趣，”惠普的克萊基維格特說(shuō)，“但希望看到其他人來(lái)證明這一點(diǎn)。”