Railway in Poland: Trains from Germany to Russia avoid Poland

In December 2006 the firs rail ferry will start running between German and Russian baltic ports. Both countries decided to limit rail communication through Poland, because of customs procedures impeding transport. Polish Ministry of Transport and Polish National Railways PK say that this decision is of political nature.

Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Russian Railways (RZD) signed a n agreement on launching with a regular rail ferry connection between Sassnitz port on Rugia island and Baltijsk in Kaliningrad region.

The Russians already invested RUR 1.5 billion in the port with an intention of spending another 5 billion.

- We are expecting further rapid growth in trade between Germany and Russia said Deutsche Bahn's spokesman Egbert Meyer-Lovis.

At first the route will be serviced by one ferry, but in the future it is planned to indroduce up to seven. The time of travele between Sassnitz and Baltijsk will be 36 hours.

Sassnitz port has similar rail infrastructure to Russia in terms of track gauge. Today it takes six days to transport wagons from Berlin to Moscow through Poland.

Russian Railways expect that the conteiner exchange on ferries between Germany and Russia may reach 74 TEU. Each ferry can carry up to 130 wagons. Russia expects the investment to return in 11 years.

Annonymous DB manager told "Die Welt" that his company is unsatisfied with the capacity performane of Polish network. Polish customs officers and railwaymen make the transit difficult.

"Die Welt" suggests that the agreement is also of political nature. Poland's and Lithuania's relations with Germany and Russia worsened recently. And the ferry reflects good atmosphere between Germany and Russia.

Russia-Germany trade tripled in last seven years reaching EUR 50 billion in 2006.

Spokesman for PKP Cargo, Mr Jacek Wnukowski said that PKP's relations with DB were always good and the agreement is clearly of political nature. In November 2005 a pilot train on Berlin - Moscow route was launched. Wnukowski says that in his opinion Russias goal was to avoid Lithuania. But PKP is not going to surrender.
Source:freerepublic.com