40 million masks arrive from China by train

A first train carrying 35 containers filled with masks and medical equipment has left China on Thursday for a three week trip to the paris region, said the SNCF on Friday. Since the city of Nanchang, in south-eastern China, this freight train of 41 cars must go through in twenty days 11.920 miles through seven countries up to the platform in Valenton, near Paris.

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On board, according to the SNCF, 40 million surgical masks and equipment for hospital workers (gloves, bags, water-soluble, distributors of the gel without contact, etc). The cargo, entirely for hospitals and communities, will be shared between the Ile-de-France and the region of Auvergne, the Rhone-Alpes region, said the group public.

The company savoyard BIFP, which has already leased seven aircraft to import the equipment from China, was no longer if in a hurry now that the health emergency was passed, was pointed out by the SNCF in a statement. She turned to the train, which is much slower but 30 times less expensive than the plane, and its carbon footprint 15 times smaller. "With the equivalent of six cargo aircraft in a single train, the cost of rail transport is 30 times less expensive than air transport for a mask (0,01€) which has a positive effect on the sale price," says the company. The track is certainly more expensive than the sea, but a boat makes more than twice the time to make the trip. Trains have already provided masks chinese to european countries, but not yet to France, according to a spokesman for SNCF Fret.

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The transport is provided by the giant chinese logistics Cosco Shipping up to the chinese-kazak border, where the teams of the multimodal transport operator Forwardis (subsidiary of SNCF) will take over until Paris. Other trains should follow in the next weeks, assured the SNCF.

The editorial team conseilleCommission investigation: the masks in the heart of débatsAucun commentaireBELLIN RAOULle 05/06/2020 22:51

Sorry ...forced to import products from basic medical and feed, and the propagators of the epidemic

natan770le 05/06/2020 20:55

I have the impression to be back in the 19th century. We are swimming in delirium.

alfranbisrepetitale 05/06/2020 20:47

Disgraceful order in China, while the French companies are unable to sell their production !! BUY French first !!

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