Russia & India to ink MoU for rail cargo traffic

Russian rail monopoly RZD and Indian Railways will sign a memorandum to set up a joint operator of rail cargo traffic via the North-South corridor, informed Alexander Misharin, First Deputy Director General, RZD. He named traffic via the North-South corridor among the priorities for cooperation between the two companies.

“We plan to sign a memorandum of agreement on developing cooperation with Indian Railways, which includes design and supplies of dispatch control systems, automated systems, creating a joint operator, study and preparation of documents to organise joint agreements on cargo traffic,” he said.

The North-South international transport corridor is aimed at transporting cargo from India and Persian Gulf countries to western and northern Europe via Iran, Azerbaijian and Russia. The corridor’s main advantage is that the delivery will be two or three times faster than via other routes. Initially, the side plan to transport five million tonnes annually, and the volume may be doubled in the future.