OREANDA-NEWS. Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways, on October 5 met with Mr. Hu Yadun, China’s deputy railway minister, for discussions on how to increase the volumes of rail freight between Russia and China, the Russian Railways press service reported. Both men noted with satisfaction the increasingly close collaboration between the two countries’ railway systems and the increasing freight traffic in both directions.

They also discussed measures to increase transit shipments in the near future and in particular proposed boosting the volumes of the transit traffic from China to Europe via Russia. The two sides agreed to take all necessary measures to adjust the mechanism of routing trains and to create effective logistics, and will consider building a joint logistics centre to serve Transbaikal Railways, a subsidiary of Russian Railways, and Harbin Railways in China.

In 2007, 19.2 million tonnes of freight have been exported to Manchuria along Transbaikal Railways, while according to Chinese data, freight exported to Russia or transit traffic via Russia increased by 36.9%.