Ukrainian Railways launches 5 new routes in 2018
Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) witnessed a surge in container traffic of more than 40 per cent in the period January – July 2018. During the first seven months it transported 57,688 TEUs of cargo. The remarkable increase is the result of the launching of five new container block train services within and through Ukraine.
“Carriage of containers is the most increasing mode of transportation, which allows to provide speed, reliability trip regularity. There is a demand for this transportation mode, so we have launched five new container routes this year”, said Yevhen Kravtsov, the acting head of Ukrainian Railways. It was “these new routes that enabled us to increase container traffic volumes by more than forty per cent.”
The new routes
The new routes includes one international lineute, connecting China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia. It was setup together with railway companies of Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as Slovakia. The other four routes are national lines, being Kyiv-Liski – Chornomorska, Odesa-Port/Chornomorska – Rozhniativ, Kharkiv-Liski – Chornomorska and Odesa-Port – Dnipro-Liski. These lines connect major Ukrainian seaports with different parts of the country: the nothn (Kyiv-Liski), the west (Rozhniativ), the east (Kharkiv-Liski) and central Ukraine (Dnipro-Liski).
The majority of intra-Ukraine trains run via Chornomorska station, which is a railway junction that connects the three largest container seaports of Ukraine: Odesa, Yuzhny and Chornomorsk (former Illichivsk). The train between Kyiv-Liski and Chornomorska stations has been launched jointly by Ukrainian Railways,, Maersk Line and TIS company, the largest Ukraine’s port operator and owner of the container terminal in Yuzhny seaport.
11 block trains
Almost 63 per cent of container traffic were carried by 11 block trains. The most popular one is the Viking Train, which transported 6,208 TEUs. The service was launched in February 2003 and connects the Ukrainian seaport of Chornomorsk (former Illichivsk) with the Belarusian and Lithuanian seaport of Klaipeda. The most relevant route among the newcomers was the Kyiv-Liski-Chornomorska line, transporting 5,311 TEUs. The third-most popular block train service runs between Nyzhniodniprovsk and Odesa/Chornomorska. This line accounted for the transportation of 4,960 TEUs.
Other relevant block train services were Odesa – Kharkiv-Liski (3,720 TEUs), Romania – Tolyatti – Romania (3,358 TEUs), Rozhniativ – Odesa-Port/Chornomorska (3,253 TEUs), China – Slovakia (2,952 TEUs), Odesa – Dnipro-Liski (2,714 TEUs), ZUBR (1,376 TEUs), Odesa – Khmelnytskyi (1,145 TEUs) and Odesa – Kyiv-Liski (1,127 TEUs).
