China-EU railway benefits
More than 500,000 teu have been transferred on UTLC ERA’s transit services across the territories of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus since the beginning of 2020. For the first time ever in the history of railfreight traffic this record has been achieved on 1,520 mm China-EU track gauge.
The current total transit volumes are one and a half times higher than for 2019 (333,000 teu). The key factors that contributed to volume growth are predictability and stability of supplies that rail insures during the pandemic as well as the rise in the cost of air and sea freight, UTLC ERA said.
Based on these facts, major goods and auto manufacturers took the decision to expand railfreight traffic between Europe and China during the corona crisis. (ben)