The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia), the Austrian railway company Rail Cargo Austria, and the German wagon operator VTG have successfully tested an intermodal service for the transportation of semi-trailers on the Kyiv-Budapest route within the framework of the memorandum that Ukrzaliznytsia and Rail Cargo Austria signed in September 2023.
Ukrzaliznytsia announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
"With this service, we have started the implementation of an intermodal transport project between Ukraine and European countries, and we plan to jointly extend this route to Vienna in the future, as recently agreed," said Ukrzaliznytsia’s Director of Commercial Operations and Logistics Tymofii Murakhovskyi.
According to the statement, a pilot piggyback transportation of loaded automotive semi-trailers from the Kyiv-Liski train station to the Budapest station was performed.
Loading and all necessary operations were performed at the Kyiv and Chop container terminals of the Liski Transport Service Center, a branch of Ukrzaliznytsia.
The automobile semi-trailers were transported in containers loaded onto Ukrzaliznytsia’s flatcars and reloaded onto European-gauge (1435 mm) flatcars provided by the German operator VTG at the Chop station. Rail Cargo Austria provided the traction rolling stock that was used after the reloading.
"The piggyback technology will facilitate the expansion of the railroad's customer base and the transfer of cargo from road to rail," Murakhovskyi said.
The parties are also currently working on all issues related to the rapid customs clearance of import and export shipments using intermodal transportation.
In addition, within the framework of cooperation with Lithuanian Railways (LTG), test freight transportation on the Kaunas-Kyiv-Kaunas route is planned for next week.
As reported previously, Ukrzaliznytsia and Rail Cargo Austria signed a memorandum on the development of intermodal rail transport between Ukraine and Austria on 14 September 2023. According to the memorandum, Ukrzaliznytsia will be responsible for traction rolling stock, intermodal wagons with a 1520 mm track gauge, terminal services, and customs formalities in Ukraine while the Rail Cargo Group, which includes Rail Cargo Austria, will be responsible for these issues in the European Union.
