Huaxia Railway was currently experiencing rapid development. Increasing operating speed and capacity had always been a difficult problem for the railway department to solve. That was why there were the first, second, third … nth time of major speed increases in the country.
There were three problems that had plagued Huaxia Railway transportation for a long time. One was the insufficient mileage, the other was the insufficient operating speed, and the insufficient towing load.
On the one hand, the railway department hoped to improve the operating efficiency of the existing railway by increasing the speed of passenger trains. On the other hand, it hoped to increase the towing load of a single train to achieve freight efficiency.
More than 20 years ago, more than 400 ND5 diesel-electric locomotives from GE of the United States brought a huge boost to the freight of Huaxia Railway. These old and strong locomotives even worked on the existing railway more than a decade later.
Now, the railway department brought out the pinnacle of Hua Xia's internal combustion passenger locomotives — the DF11G diesel locomotive, matched with the 25T series chassis from Bombardier of Canada. This combination was the highest combination of Huaxia Railway's passenger transport before Hua Xia's high-speed railway took off.
According to the information Liu Shixiong received, Qishuyan Locomotive Factory's DF11G had begun to roll off the production line in large quantities and was ready to be distributed to various departments. The Bombardier Locomotive Factory's 25T type chassis was also in mass production.
The 25T series chassis included YZ25T, RZ25T, YW25T, RW25T, and XL25T. The first letter represented their use, such as hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper, and luggage.
The chassis suitable for high-speed travel had very high requirements for the bogies. This series of chassis was designed with a construction speed of 180 kilometers per hour and could operate at 160 kilometers per hour for more than 20 hours without stopping.
This data could basically ensure that the train could travel from any first-tier city in Hua Xia to another without stopping.
When Li Mu really started to do logistics, he realized how big the problem of transportation capacity was. It was like the bandwidth problem of the current Internet industry. The upper limit was very low, and it was difficult to improve.
At the current stage, China's civil aviation was still not developed enough. The total capacity of the cargo compartment was already very limited. All of it added up was not even enough to fill the gaps between Taobao Logistics' teeth. Therefore, Taobao Logistics urgently needed a faster transportation channel with large capacity.
If there were no technological innovations such as DF11G and 25T cars, the speed of an ordinary luggage car could only reach 80 kilometers per hour, and the most embarrassing thing was that the priority of passenger transport on the existing railway was higher than freight transport. Therefore, freight trains were basically slow and stopped. Such railway transport was of little significance to Taobao Logistics, a small logistics company that pursued high efficiency.
However, if the railway department could use DF11G and 25T cars to open a special luggage train for Taobao Logistics, and give it the same priority as a direct express train, then it could run all the way to the destination without any hindrance, and the efficiency would increase by several times.
Therefore, the railway transportation, which was not very attractive to Li Mu, suddenly became a delicious cake in his eyes, and it made him crazy.
In his eyes, this kind of revolution was like the era when the Internet bandwidth was booming. Suddenly, the bandwidth reached a new height, and YouTube was born.
In the eyes of ordinary users, YouTube was just a new way to play on the Internet. However, in the eyes of professionals, when the global Internet bandwidth and data processing power could support the global netizens to visit YouTube and watch online videos, what they saw was a brand new era.
But then again, the railway department was a state-owned department. They had to consider the passenger and freight routes in the country. Therefore, under normal circumstances, it was difficult to provide personalized customized services for private enterprises. In other words, although the railway department had such an awesome thing, it was a big problem if they were willing to let private enterprises use it.
Therefore, Li Mu asked Liu Shixiong to make a verbal military pledge to communicate with the railway department as soon as possible, and strive to get the express luggage train for Taobao Logistics.
Moreover, the route that Li Mu planned was to first take over Beijing to Shanghai, and then take over the Beijing-Shanghai line. Then, take over Shanghai to Guangzhou, and open up the Beijing-Guangzhou line. These three cities would be used to connect the eastern region of the mainland. Then, take over Beijing to Yudu, and then from Yudu to Shanghai, and finally connect the central region.
The second stage was to extend from Beijing to the northeast outside the Guanzhong Pass. At the very least, they had to first open up the Beijing-Shenyang line, then from Yudu to the west, through Chang 'an, then from Shanghai to the west, through Chengdu.
If these two stages could be achieved, then the efficiency of Taobao Logistics' express delivery throughout the country would be greatly improved. At that time, even if it was all land transportation, it would be able to achieve delivery within 48 hours in the main regions of the country. Except for the southwest, northwest, and border areas, it would be possible to achieve delivery within 72 hours.
In front of Liu Shixiong and Lei Jianguo, Li Mu spread out a map of Hua Xia. Using three colored pens, he popularized a logistics concept that he had planned — the concept of the time limit zone.
The red pen represented the 24-hour time limit zone.
The blue pen represented the 48-hour time limit zone.
The black pen represented the 72-hour time limit zone.
Li Mu first used the red pen to circle the three cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Yangcheng. He said to the two of them, "In my eyes, the development of express delivery logistics is the division and expansion of the time limit zone. When we first started, we first included the first-tier cities in the 48-hour time limit zone, and the surrounding areas in the 72-hour time limit zone. Then, by increasing the speed and efficiency of the trunk logistics between these three cities, we realized that the first-tier cities were included in the 24-hour time limit zone, and the surrounding areas were included in the 48-hour time limit zone.
"After that, we added more trunk point-to-point transportation. In the beginning, the trunk point-to-point transportation between first-tier cities and first-tier cities was the trunk point-to-point transportation. Then, we developed from first-tier cities to second-tier cities to become the trunk point-to-point transportation. Then, we developed from second-tier cities to second-tier cities to become the trunk point-to-point transportation. In this way, more 72-hour time limit zones could be upgraded to the 48-hour time limit zone.
"If we continue to develop at this stage, we will have to use aviation to a greater extent to upgrade the point-to-point air transportation in the trunk. We will have to acquire more cargo space resources, acquire more cargo plane resources, and even build our own cargo plane fleet."
When Li Mu mentioned building his own cargo plane fleet, Liu Shixiong and Lei Jianguo had a look of longing on their faces. Just like Li Mu, they were deeply aware of the pain points of the logistics industry. Either there was not enough transport, or the transport was not fast enough. Therefore, they also knew how important it was to have their own cargo plane fleet.
In Li Mu's previous life, Shunfeng was the first private logistics company to develop its cargo plane fleet. Shunfeng's development method was relatively stable. It started with second-generation mobile phones and bought them one by one. It seemed like buying a plane was too much and risky, but Shunfeng quickly tasted the sweetness of owning its own cargo plane from the rapid development of Hua Xia's e-commerce industry. Then, it continued to expand its fleet.
Li Mu also knew that in the future, regardless of whether Taobao Logistics went out to sea or not, a fleet was a must. For bulk logistics, they focused on railways and roads domestically, and shipping internationally. But for small logistics, regardless of whether it was domestically or overseas, planes were the main force.
Li Mu said to the two, "In the future, when we set up an airline company and develop our own cargo plane fleet, there are two methods. The first method is to go slow and steady. For example, we can first buy two cargo planes that are at least ten years old. When we only have two planes, we can fly from Beijing to Yangcheng for long-distance transportation. When we have four planes, we can circulate between the long-distance cities in the east and the long-distance cities in the west. When we have eight planes, we can cover the central region, northeast region, and west region. When we have 16 planes, we can cover more provincial capitals, and even the northwest and southwest border regions."
"The second method is to go high. We can start by investing at least eight cargo planes through financing, loans, purchases, and rentals. We can directly revitalize the hub cities in the country, and then multiply on this basis."
Lei Jianguo said, "Li Zong, this kind of asset investment might be too heavy. We have already invested a lot of funds in logistics. In the future, we will need to invest even more funds in the development of automation."
Li Mu said, "Money will never be the most important problem. The problem is, once we start our own fleet, once we have eight or sixteen cargo planes, can we make the best use of them? Taobao has enough cash flow and surplus funds to supply the blood of logistics. Makino Technology, as a backup blood bank, is always ready to provide hundreds of millions of USD interest-free loans to Taobao Logistics when it needs it the most. If Makino Technology goes public in the first half of next year, we will have more than ten billion USD in cash, enough for Taobao Logistics to move forward at full speed."
Then, Li Mu said, "Also, in terms of logistics, we don't need to buy new planes. We can buy all second-hand planes. This way, the cost can be reduced by more than half."
Lei Jianguo nodded lightly and asked, "Then, when do you think is the best time for us to start building our fleet?"
Li Mu said firmly, "Now!"
After that, Li Mu explained, "Now is the best time for Taobao Logistics to shine in the world. It will become the business card of Hua Xia, just like Makino Technology. If we announce a major decision at this time, it will have the best effect on the influence of the company. Moreover, now is the best time for us to act like a spoiled child in front of the country. We need to act like a spoiled child in front of the express luggage train, and we also need to act like a spoiled child in front of the fleet."
Liu Shixiong said, "In that case, let's first apply for the establishment of Taobao Logistics Airlines!"
Li Mu asked him, "Liu Shixiong, you have studied logistics a lot. What are the processes needed to establish an airline company?"
Liu Shixiong said, "The most important thing is that we need the approval of the Civil Aviation Administration. We need to submit an application to the Civil Aviation Administration first."
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