OLN: Kaliningrad and German railways extend cooperation in the field of freight traffic

Kaliningrad segodnya. The issues of cooperation in the field of the West-East railway freight traffic were discussed at a meeting between management of Kaliningrad railways and “Deutsche Ban AG”. The Russian side was represented by Mr. Ivan Besedin, Head of KZhD,  the German side – by Mr. Jorg Siedenbiedel, Head of Representation of German railways in Russia and CIS.

The parties exchanged their views on the work of railway-ferry line Baltyisk-Sassnitz. Since its launch in 2007 more than 700 railway cars with different types of cargoes were transported in both directions. The structure of traffic is dominated by fiberboard which accounts for 85 per cent of the total volume of cargoes. Other types of cargoes include paper, technical carbon, machinery, metal-roll products and fruits.

Representatives of German railways pointed out that they are interested in increasing the volume of traffic through KZhD terminals; according to their estimates the real growth of traffic could reach 10-20 per cent this year alone. Comparing Sassnitz-Klaipeda and Sassnitz -Baltyisk lines the German side favoured the latter for better railway cars provision.

The possibility of creating of a joint terminal in Cherniakhovsk for transshipment of cargoes from narrow to broad railway gauge with subsequent shipment to Russia was also discussed. The parties agreed to implement test shipments for evaluation of time required for such operations as well as the cost involved. Read more in Russian…

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