Russian company to begin large-scale rail transport of cars
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The Russian rail operator RZD has announced plans to compete with road haulage companies on the import of cars into Russia. The company's new subsidiary Rail Trans Auto intends over the next few years to acquire a 20 per cent share of the motor vehicle transports in the Russian region, according to RZD's Deputy President Gennadi Bardakov.
Rail Trans Auto's plans, if they come to fruition, will also have a distinct impact on Finland. Two-thirds of the cars being shipped into Russia currently pass through the ports of Hanko, Kotka, and Turku, and the huge numbers of Russian car transporters are a familiar and sometimes worrying sight on roads in Southern Finland and in the queues at border crossing points.
RZD owns a 51 per cent share in the new company, which was established at the beginning of the year.
It will have at its disposal 1,600 wagons for carrying cars, and the intention is to increase this figure rapidly over the next few years.
The company's Moscow terminal will be completed in the course of this year, and units at Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk will follow in 2008.
According to Bardakov, when the distance that goods are to be transported exceeds a thousand kilometres, then rail shipments become a profitable exercise. Distances of 1,000 kilometres in a country the size of Russia are rather the norm than the exception.
Bardakov does not promise that the Finnish ports will naturally grab the lion's share of the shipments planned by Rail Trans Auto. "Tariffs will determine the ports of entry for the cars", he emphasised.
Matti Andersson, from the Finnish rail operator VR's international cargo traffic side, has said that VR has a long history of cooperation with Russian rail authorities geared to switching the cars from road transporters to the rails.
"The setting up of Rail Trans Auto means that we are moving from the planning phase towards actual implementation", commented Andersson.
VR Cargo's objective is naturally to see that the maximum possible share of the car transporter trains use Finnish harbours as their point of embarkation.
"Rail transport is environmentally more friendly and also improves traffic safety, but these developments will certainly not spell the end for moving cars on road transporters. The volumes in Russia are so enormous and there will be work in store for all hauliers for years to come", stressed Andersson.
The Port of Kotka has reported that already a small number of cars are carried forward from the harbour by rail to customers in Kazakhstan.
It is believed that the opening up of a railhead for such transports in Moscow will cause a speedy increase in the volume of rail shipments. Certain infrastructure improvements will need to be made in Kotka, including new loading platforms. Decisions on these will be held in abeyance until the Russian project gets off the ground, but work can then be carried out quite quickly.
From the port's perspective, it matters little in a technical sense whether the cars bound for Russia go there on rails or on rubber tyres. However, in the view of the Administrative Director Kyösti Manninen, it would be generally favourable that an increasing share of the traffic goes by rail.
The transit capacity for vehicles through Kotka has been increased steadily in recent years. By the end of 2007, the port will be capable of handling an annual throughput of some 300,000 cars.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 20.2.2007 - TODAY |
 Russian company to begin large-scale rail transport of cars
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