The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (JSC Ukrzaliznytsia) has launched a new container train on the Nizhnedneprovsk-Uzel-Slawkow (Poland) route, the CFTS portal reports, citing information from Ukrzaliznytsia.

According to Ukrzaliznytsia, containers will be loaded onto the train at the Zaporizhia, Mariupol Sorting, and Nikopol train stations every Saturday.

Ukrzaliznytsia’s Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov said that the speed of delivery of containers to the border of Ukraine and Poland would be significantly reduced (to 40 hours instead of several days). In addition, the cost of transporting containers on Ukrzaliznytsia’s flatcars has been reduced by 20-25% due to the increase in the speed of delivery.

“We are currently considering the possibility of organizing new container trains on the Lithuania-Ukraine-Lithuania route. Our container transport logistics specialists have already reaching a cooperation agreement with their counterparts from Lithuanian Railways, Belarusian Railways, and Containerships LLC,” Kravtsov said.

Slawkow is the western terminus of the railway line, which uses the 1520-millimneter track gauge and reaches almost 400 kilometers into Polish territory.

The new train is the 19th container train passing through the territory of Ukraine. The previous such train was launched on the Belarus-Ukraine-Romania route on March 6.

According to Ukrzaliznytsia, 334,963 TEU was transported by rail in 2018, which is 13% more than the volume of containers that was transported in 2017. The 17 container trains that operated permanently in 2018 transported 95,700 TEU.

Following are the 17 trains mentioned above:

Viking

ZUBR

Romania – Russia (Tolyatti) – Romania

Slovakia (Kosice) – Russia (Perspektivnaya)

Land Bridge (China – Slovakia/Hungary)

China – Slovakia – Hungary (via Mongolia)

China – Slovakia (via Kazakhstan)

Nika (Nikopol – Chornomorsk-Ferry)

Nizhnedneprovsk-Pristan – Black Sea (TIS)

Kyiv-Liski – Black Sea (TIS)

Rozhnyatov – Odesa-Port/Chornomorska (TIS)

Kharkiv-Liski – Black Sea (TIS)

Dnipro-Liski – Black Sea (TIS)

Ternopil – Chornomorska (TIS)

Kyiv-Liski – Odesa Port

Dniprovets (Dnipro-Liski – Odesa Port)

Odesa-Port – Kharkiv-Liski.