OREANDA-NEWS.  On January 24 Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, attended a ceremony to meet an international container train arriving in Hamburg from Beijing. The official ceremony was also attended by Hartmut Mehdorn, Chairman of Deutsche Bahn, and the chairmen of Chinese and Belarussian railways, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

The container train departed from Beijing’s Dahunmen Station in January 9 and consisted of 49 fitting platforms for the transport of 98 twenty-foot containers. Its route of 9,780 km took it through China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. Total journey time was 15 days and the train arrived in Hamburg almost 20 hours ahead of schedule.

“After tracking the container train on Russia’s railways, it is clear that there is plenty of scope for increasing its speed considerably. We can reduce the journey time by more than a day,” said Vladimir Yakunin.

“The sustainable development of Russia’s economy and strong growth in China, as well as the expansion of economic ties and trade between Europe and Asia, require the intensive development of our countries’ transportation systems of. Rail plays a key role here, because it has always been a catalyst for economic growth. Moreover, these conditions create a good basis for implementing multilateral projects, such as the international container train route between Beijing and Hamburg,” said Vladimir Yakunin.

According to the President of Russian Railways, the project will attract more international traffic to the railways, regulate the flow of container traffic and create good and convenient conditions for clients.