What spurs the international effort to bridge Afghanistan via rail?

Countries in Afghanistan’s vicinity have grown an interest in developing its rail infrastructure. More and more projects are being launched, or are at the very least being considered, that would elevate the country to an international “rail bridge” to the Indian Ocean. What are these projects, and what motivates these countries? As the desert dust…

What spurs the international effort to bridge Afghanistan via rail?

Countries in Afghanistan’s vicinity have grown an interest in developing its rail infrastructure. More and more projects are being launched, or are at the very least being considered, that would elevate the country to an international “rail bridge” to the Indian Ocean. What are these projects, and what motivates these countries? As the desert dust…

Russia approves 3,7 trillion ruble Far East rail modernisation

Russia has approved further modernisation works of railway infrastructure in its Far Eastern region. On the 50-year anniversary of the so-called Baikal-Amur line (BAM), the country confirmed that it will be spending 3,7 trillion rubles to boost throughput capacity to 270 million tonnes by 2032. The approved investments are part of the third stage of…

Another Ukraine-Lithuania rail freight connection is in the works

Ukrainian Railways (UZ) and the Lithuanian railway holding LTG Group agreed to develop a new freight service between Kyiv and Klaipėda. “The first test runs of the intermodal cargo transportation route are planned for this year”, LTG added. The initiative is still in its early stages, as a Memorandum of Understanding was recently signed by…

Onrail to take over Oslo-Narvik route, gains DB Schenker as customer

Norwegian rail operator Onrail will take over the Oslo-Narvik freight route. The company will now gain DB Schenker as a customer. Other companies did not manage to propose financially attractive enough deals to the German logistics company. At the moment, the freight route from Oslo to the northern Norwegian port town of Narvik is being…

Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to open for traffic in two weeks

Freight trains will start running along the newly renovated Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway on 20 May 2024. The plan is to turn the line into the main artery of the Middle Corridor and further boost Eurasian rail freight transport, according to Roshvan Rustamov, Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways (ADY). Rustamov mentioned that the works on the Georgian…

CargoBeamer wants to build a terminal near German-Czech border

CargoBeamer, a German company specialised in the rail transport of non-cranable semi-trailers recently signed a Letter of Intent to launch the construction of a new terminal in Saxony, the German region bordering with Czechia. It needs to be mentioned that this project is still in its early stages, but there are various reasons behind it,…

Hannibal to launch new Italy-Hungary-Romania connection

Hannibal, the multimodal subsidiary of Contship, will launch a new rail freight service connecting Milan to Budapest and Curtici. The company expects to commence operations by the end of this year. The service will connect the Rail Hub Melzo, east of Milan, with the BILK terminal in Budapest and the Arad terminal in Curtici. The…