The first train on a new regular freight route between China and Yekaterinburg arrived in the Urals capital on 12 October 2016. Its 50 and 40-tonne containers brought to the city telecommunications and construction equipment, IT tools, consumer goods and other cargo. On this new route the freight trains will leave Shenyang every week and make regular deliveries to the Russian region’s capital.

The new freight route was organised by TransContainer (a subsidiary of Russian Railways) in cooperation with the Chinese-Russian joint venture Swift Multimodal Rus (part of the international group Swift Transport International Logistics Co. Ltd.). Under the cooperation agreement Russian Railways is responsible for cargo transport on Russian territory and contributes its transport logistics infrastructure and rolling stock (loading platforms).

Freight containers from different Chinese cities (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Tianjin and Qingdao) travel via the port of Yingkao to Shengyang where the train is loaded with containers. Cargo is processed at the container site of Gipsovaya Park at the Yekaterinburg-Tovarny loading platform.

The express freight trains are expected to leave China every week on Wednesdays.
The main advantages of this service are high speed (three times faster than by sea) and guaranteed transit time (around 10 days).

Shipments via the Manchuria-Zabaikalsk checkpoint makes it possible to reduce the delivery by two or three times compared to the operating routes via Far Eastern ports with further transport of cargo along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

(Source: RZD)