Belarusian Railways has joined other participants in discussing the ‘Viking’ combined transport train project, in Tbilisi, updating an agreement on cargo transportation. An action plan to develop the project in 2016 has been agreed, with special attention given to competitive tariff terms. This year’s level of tariffs is to be maintained for container transportation by Viking trains in H1 2016.
Container carriages prove convenient
The conference in Tbilisi gathered representatives of Belarusian Railways, Lithuanian Railways (Lietuvos Geležinkeliai), the State Administration of Railway Transport of Ukraine, the Railway of Moldova, partners from Romania, representatives of the Georgian Railway service, and operators in charge of the ‘Viking’ train service.
The ‘Viking’ combined transport train is a joint project by railway operators from Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus, alongside stevedoring companies and the ports of Klaipeda, Ilyichevsk and Odessa.
‘Viking’ is routed through Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, connecting a number of maritime container lines in the Baltic Region with those in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Caspian. Work is now in progress to extend the ‘Viking’ train service into Turkey, with further extension to Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan.
From January to October 2015, the ‘Viking’ train transported over 33,000 20-foot containers via Belarusian Railways.
By Alexander Fedotov
