BAKU / Trend / Starting in March 2016, Ukraine plans to launch the full commercial operation of the Trans-Caspian international transport corridor, extending from Europe through Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to China, Ukrainian media reported on Friday, quoting the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Mr. Andrey Pivovarsky.
In his words, the test train, which arrived in China on January 31, will return to Ukraine before the end of February.
“Further, absolutely all logistic weaknesses will be worked out, and the relevant regulatory document will be signed, which will give the opportunity to run a train for commercial exploitation. In the final days of February, the final protocol in Baku will be signed, which will eliminateall technical problems and bottlenecksso that we can say that,starting inMarch, the train will already be able to be used for regularbusiness,”stated Pivovarsky.
It is planned that the Liski Centre of Transport Service (CTS), which is part of “Ukrainian Railways”, will be the main operator of this route.
The minister believes that it is realistic to reduce the timeforthe train’spassage by up to 10 days. According to him, this is practically equal to the duration of transport via Russia.
The test container train on the Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China route (via the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea) departed from Ilichiovskon January 15 and arrived in China on January31.
On January 14, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine signed a protocol on the establishment of competitive feed-in tariffs for cargo transportation on the Trans-Caspian international transport route.
