CZ/SK verze

ÖBB's Rail Cargo Hungaria Has Transported the Millionth Tonne of Ukrainian Grain Since the Beginning of War

ÖBB's Rail Cargo Hungaria Has Transported the Millionth Tonne of Ukrainian Grain Since the Beginning of War
photo: Rail Cargo Hungaria/ÖBB's Rail Cargo Hungaria Has Transported the Millionth Tonne of Ukrainian Grain Since the Beginning of War
15 / 12 / 2022

The Rail Cargo Hungaria train carrying this year’s millionth tonne of Ukrainian grain has crossed the Hungarian border.

Two-thirds of the grain, which has arrived in over 17,000 wagons so far, was transported for Hungarian customers, and the remaining part is being forwarded to grain depots in Italy and Austria. ÖBB Rail Cargo Group and its Hungarian subsidiaries focus in particular on supporting the Ukrainian people and economy with their services. With a throughput of one million tonnes, the group is amongst the leading railway companies providing assistance.

Since the outbreak of the war, the company group has given priority to the transport of food consignments from Ukraine, mainly maize, sunflower seeds, wheat, soya, barley and vegetable oil. The company's previous freight traffic with Ukraine has increased to hundreds of thousands of tonnes per month since the second third of the year. Half of the goods entering the country are iron ore and the second most common item shipped is grain and oilseeds.

The proportion of grain consignments consisting on 80% of maize increased in the inbound trade to 30% from 2% last year. Increasing volumes posed the company an enormous challenge, namely to secure the necessary freight wagon and traction capacity and to organise and speed up the border traffic. RCH has also developed innovative technological solutions and alternative transport projects to increase the volume of forwarded consignments. To speed up transport, the company has again started to use the former technology of reassembling the axles of rail freight wagons.

Imre Kovács, Member of the Board of Directors of Rail Cargo Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rail Cargo Hungaria, has personally discussed with the management of Ukrainian Railways (UZ) the joint measures to speed up the transit of goods, as part of which a joint working group was established and the exchange of data between the two companies has also been expanded.

The measures to speed up border traffic have gradually yielded results. The number of incoming wide-gauge wagons ready for transhipment has increased by 500 per month, and in September already 5,000 wagons arrived for RCH. The number of trains forwarded increased from 5 per week in April to even 13–15 per week in November.

Rail Cargo Group expects an annual surplus of 2–4 million tonnes in rail freight volumes between Hungary and Ukraine. RCH, Hungary's leading rail freight subsidiary, is ready to meet the growing transport demands of the Ukrainian partners.

Source: Rail Cargo Hungaria Press Releases

Tags