First Russian container train carrying agricultural products departs Chelyabinsk for China via Zabaikalsk

CHELYABINSK. May 7 (Interfax) - Dry Port Yuzhnouralsky LLC (part of the State Transport Leasing Company) and Rusagrotek LLC sent the first container train with agricultural products from Formachevo station (Chelyabinsk) toward Zabaikalsk railway station, the land border crossing with China.

"The train will proceed to Chengdu station in China. Total travel time is estimated at 14 days; the train consists of 70 forty-foot containers," the press service of the State Transport Leasing Company said in a press release.

The route was launched as due to an increase in the export shipments of agricultural products, the press release said. The Yuzhnouralsky Dry Port and Rusagrotek plan to send 2-3 container trains monthly.

The Yuzhnouralsky Transport and Logistics Center (TLC) is part of the Russian Transport Ministry's project for the creation of a network of transport and logistics centers (TLC). Currently, the TLC includes a Class A warehouse complex with an area of more than 60,000 sq. m, a container terminal with a capacity of about 10,000 TEU, as well as railway and utility infrastructure facilities.

Russian Railways began sending container trains along the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC) in the spring of 2023 from the South Ural Railway's (a division of Russian Railways) Chelyabinsk-Gruzovaya station, and then, in summer, from Formachevo station, located next to the Yuzhnouralsky TLC, whose infrastructure is used for transshipping containers from road transport to rail.

It was reported that FESCO Transport Group had also launched a railway container service in 2022 on the Vladivostok - Chelyabinsk (Formachevo), route, which also makes use of the Yuzhnouralsky TLC.