MINSK, 7 October (BelTA) – Concerted actions of the countries taking part in the Silk Road project will positively influence traffic flows. Head of Belarusian Railways Vladimir Morozov voiced the opinion during the plenary session of the Belarusian Transport Week on 7 October, BelTA has learned.
Vladimir Morozov reminded that two pan-European transport corridors cross Belarus. One of them connects Berlin, Warsaw, Minsk, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. The other one is used to deliver cargoes from Baltic states to the Black Sea. According to the source, freight accounts for 62% of Belarusian Railways' traffic. International transportation accounts for two thirds of the freight traffic handled by Belarusian Railways and the figure keeps rising.
In January-August 2015 Belarusian Railways transported 85.7 million tonnes, roughly 10% down from January-August 2014. The head of the Belarusian railway operator mentioned that downward trends had been registered by all the international transporters. Vladimir Morozov noted that as far as the geographical destinations of the cargoes Belarusian Railways transports are concerned, Russia accounts for 47% of the total. Russia is followed by Latvia (20%) and Ukraine (9.5%). Most of the transit traffic originates in Russia to travel towards the Baltic sea ports.
“I would like to draw attention to container cargo transportation, in particular, to the Viking and Zubr train projects,” said Vladimir Morozov. “I call upon fellow railway operators to work harder to fill this stream.” The official mentioned it is necessary to create a joint technology to make the business convenient and understandable. He also suggested transporting cargoes faster.
In his words, faster delivery times are necessary. While cargo transportation from China to Europe by sea takes nearly 11 weeks, container cargo transportation by rail via Belarus takes almost 14 days although the trains cross the country within less than 12 hours. As many as eight container train routes are available.
The Viking train travels via Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania and connects a number of maritime container lines in the Baltic region with a similar system of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Belarusian Railways and Latvian Railways have teamed up to implement the container train project Zubr, which connects ports of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
