New international railway postal service from China to Russia launched

Russian Railways has launched a new international postal delivery service for the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Russian Post (FSUE), which will allow packages to be delivered by rail from China to Russia. In May last year, Russian Railways signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese Railways for this postal delivery service. The international mail was earlier delivered to Russia only by air and road.

The first delivery was organised by Russian Railways Logistics, a part of the United Transport and Logistics Company (UTLC). The new service is expected to attract additional flows of freight on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russian Railways Logistics stated. Last week, Moscow received the first container with the mail from China and transhipment of container for road transport also took place at Kuntsevo-2 station in Russia's capital city. "The new service is expected to attract additional flows of freight on the Trans-Siberian Railway." With this new development, the transport cost will be reduced and also the facility to deliver cargo from door-to-door in the container will eliminate additional cargo operations. It is expected to transport more than 50,000t of mail a year, reported The Moscow Times.

Railways Logistics also offers other services, including preparation of shipping documents, customs transit, container transhipment in Russia and delivery to the final destination. The agreement between Russia and China is also aimed to develop rail border crossings between the countries, along with infrastructure developments near border crossing points. In addition, the objectives include the optimisation of conditions and technologies of container transportation, delivery time reduction, the development of terminal and warehouse facilities on the main routes of transportation.

The source: Railway Technology