The first group of cars with 62 large-capacity containers sent along the new railway route Yekaterinburg-Tovarny – Naushki (on the border with Mongolia) – Erlian-Khoto (China), reached the border of the Russian Federation and Mongolia on October 25. Delivery is carried out as part of a technical train and is a prototype of a permanent container service, which in the future will link the capital of the Urals and the northern regions of China.
An accelerated container train through Naushki will significantly reduce the time and cost of transportation. At the first stage, such trains will depart from Yekaterinburg as cargo accumulates. The service operator is PJSC TransContainer , providing its own terminal infrastructure, fitting platforms and containers.
Currently, when exporting lumber and minerals, chemical and metallurgical products from the Urals, containers are most often shipped via Vladivostok, and from there the cargo is shipped by sea to different ports of China – Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin, Dalian, Ningbo, Guangzhou (this route takes about 60 days). Direct rail service from Ekaterinburg via Naushki to Erlyan-Khoto and further along the territory of China will reduce the delivery time by about half to 25 days.
Cargo handling is performed at the site of PJSC TransContainer at SZR (Park Gypsum Station Yekaterinburg-Tovarny). This complex is the largest in the Urals and one of the largest in the country: there are 7 loading sites, and the total capacity exceeds 4.5 thousand containers. The terminal receives 30 container trains each month, and sends up to 25. The launch of the accelerated container train along the new route will expand the geography of cargo delivery.