LTG Cargo and UZ tested the semi-trailer transport from Kaunas to Kyiv

LTG Cargo and Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ), in cooperation with NSExpress, tested a new cargo transportation route Kaunas - Kyiv. Unspecified number of semi-trailers (probably two) was brought to the Kaunas intermodal terminal from Klaipėda sea port. There they were loaded into standard 1,435 mm pocket wagon on 30 October 2023, using the road2link module, enabling handling of the standard non-craneable semi-trailers. Following the 1,435 mm gauge route from Kaunas, the shipment traveled through Poland to the border with Ukraine, where it was transferred to 1,520 mm gauge wagons and arrived in Kyiv on 10 November.

UZ, in cooperation with the Ukrainian forwarding company SunSmart, has already carried out several test transports of semi-trailers by rail on the Kyiv - Chop, Kyiv - Slawków and most recently at the end of September Kyiv - Budapest routes. For the transport of semi-trailers on 1,520 mm gauge, standard flat wagons with the necessary modifications are used. The handling of the semi-trailers is carried out by means of ropes. A similar pricnip is used by the ISU system employed by Rail Cargo Austria on the Wels - Lambach - Trieste line.

The Kaunas - Kyiv test run was implemented just two months after the official meeting between LTG Cargo and UZ held in September to develop mutually beneficial solutions for the development of international transportation.

"In today's conditions, a traffic jam at the limit of this distance on the road can take up to two weeks and more. By this new route we hope to provide clients a reliable and faster way of fight transportation by rail. In this way, we can deliver semi-trailers with cargo to customers up to 3 times faster than this route is covered by road transport", says Eglė Šimė, head of LTG Cargo.

At the request of customers, cargo transported by railway on this route can also be transported from/to the seaport of Klaipėda, and to any point in the Baltic countries. It is expected that, at the request of customers, this route from Lithuania to Ukraine will be able to efficiently and safely transport various types of cargo: fertilizers, PET granules, salt. Cereal crops, building materials, food and beverage products can be imported to Lithuania from Ukraine.

“Cargo on the Kaunas-Kiev route will be transported by LTG Cargo in Lithuania, and LTG Cargo Polska in Poland. At the Medyka (Poland)-Mostyska (Ukraine) border point, semi-trailers with cargo will be transferred from European to Ukrainian broad-gauge wagons and transported by Ukrainian Railways to the “Liski” terminal in Kyiv. From here, cargo can be distributed around the country by road transport”, reports Vyacheslav Yeromin, a board member of "Ukrainian Railways“.

Currently, at the request of customers, LTG Cargo and its partners transport cargo on three international routes connecting Lithuania and Ukraine through the border points of Mostyska-Medyka and Jagodin - Darohusk and Izov - Hrubeshov. Railway carriers mainly transport oil and agricultural products.