Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Good for Business, Latvia, Railways, Transport

Photo: ldz.lv

In October 2017, the Latvian and Belarus railway companies agreed on closer cooperation in quick transportation of cargos between Riga and Minsk and in development of a new offer - a Minsk-Riga express freight train that would deliver cargos from one city to another in 28 hours on demand.

A pilot project of the Minsk-Riga express freight train was launched. The trial run from Minsk to Riga was made in January this year, and a train departed from Riga to Minsk this week.

The express freight train from Riga to Minsk carried textile manufacturing equipment, grain and metal products. The containers were brought from India in cooperation with the German company RTSB GmbH and Belarus freight operator Belintertrans.

These are the first results of the efforts to find new partners in South Asia and to develop new freight delivery solutions and a demonstration of the possibilities of the Latvian transport and logistics industry, the representatives of Latvijas Dzelzcels said.

The potential of the Minsk-Riga express freight train will increase with development of Great Stone, a China-Belarus industrial park in the territory of Belarus, said Edvins Berzins, President of Latvijas Dzelzcels.

The rail freight carried between Latvia and Belarus on the Indra-Bigosovo line last year increased 13.9 percent year-on-year to 7.7 million tons.