OREANDA-NEWS. January 30, 2015. Russian Railways is launching an international mail delivery service by rail from China to Russian Post.

The project is being implemented as part of a cooperation agreement between Russian Railways and Chinese Railways which was signed in May 2014, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation between Russian Post and China Post signed in October 2013 during an official visit of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to China.

The Memorandum provides for the expansion of mail delivery transport routes from China to Russia and enables the parties to attract additional traffic to the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The transport operator is RZD Logistics.

The first container with mail from China arrived in Moscow from Harbin at the end of last week. At Kuntsevo-2 station, the container was transshipped to road transport before proceeding to the international postal exchange point.

Until now, international mail has been delivered to Russia by air and road transport. Delivery by rail not only reduces transportation costs, but also enables goods to be delivered door-to-door in the container itself, thereby eliminating additional freight operations and intermediaries from the delivery supply chain.

In addition to delivering mail, RZD Logistics provides a full range of related services, including the completion of transportation documents and customs transit and the transshipment of containers from Chinese to Russian railway transport, as well as road delivery from the arrival station to the final destination in international postal exchange.

In the future it is planned to transport mail by rail not only from Harbin, but also from other Chinese cities. In addition to Moscow, deliveries will also be made to Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Kazan.

The new system will also facilitate the establishment of similar services between Russia and other countries.