Rail freight volumes between China and Europe via Russia has grown by 35 per cent since the beginning of the year, compared to the same period last year. From January to May 2020, the total volume of traffic on this route amounted to about 167,000 TEUs. In May it was 47,700 TEUs, or 1.8 times more than in the same period last year.

This was announced by the Deputy General Director of Russian Railways and Head of the Center for Corporate Transport Services Alexei Shilo during a Russian-Chinese video conference on container shipping. “There is increased demand for rail transportation between Asia and Europe. This makes the advantages of railway transport -stability, reliability, manufacturability, and environmental friendliness- all the more attractive, and they should be used to maintain and increase cargo flows.”

Russian railway network

Earlier this week, Russian Railways reported a surge of transit traffic on its own network. In the first five months of this year, 278 thousand containers moved on transit through the country, 18 per cent more than in the same period of 2019.

The company also announced that it is consistently developing its transit transportation corridors. “In this year’s investment programme, despite the worsening economic environment, all work related to transit traffic will go on as planned as much as possible.”