As part of the programme to develop the North-South International Transport Corridor, the RZD holding company and Azerbaijan Railways have agreed to cooperate to attract cargo traffic on the Azerbaijan and Russian railway networks through the transport of goods on the outward and return route between India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

The logistics operators in this project are the RZD Logistics and ADY Express companies. The first shipments on these routes are planned for the end of March 2016.

At present, cargo from India in the direction of the European part of the Russian Federation is transported by sea (route A), with an estimated transit time of 40 days from Nehru Port (Mumbai) to Moscow. The new multimodal B route will include maritime, rail and road transport, and will reduce transit times by half. In the future journey times could take as little as 14 days.

During negotiations, the two railway companies agreed on competitive rates for cargo traffic: the cost of transporting 40 TEU on the route from Mumbai to Moscow should not exceed 3000 US dollars.

(Source: RZD)