“The cost of transportation will decrease by an average of 30-50%": the first freight trains will pass along the Crimean bridge on June 30

The movement of freight trains on the Crimean bridge will begin on June 30, the Info Center said. The first will be two trains that proceed towards each other.

“On June 30, two freight trains from the mainland and peninsula will pass across the bridge towards each other. They will cross the Kerch Strait and open freight railway traffic, ”the information center reports.

A train with products from Crimean enterprises, including soda ash and limestone, will head towards mainland Russia. In the opposite direction, a train with gasoline tanks, gondola cars with fertilizers, grain carriers, cement trucks, as well as platforms loaded with rails will move towards Crimea.

Recall that passenger railway communication between the Crimea and the mainland of Russia started in December 2019. From that moment, trains crossed the Kerch Strait more than 500 times and transported over 250 thousand passengers.

As the general director of SGM-Most Alexander Ostrovsky noted, the railway part of the bridge to the Crimea is ready for traffic growth.

“The road was built with a margin of safety and is equipped with modern signaling, centralization and blocking devices. This allows you to create convenient traffic schedules with the desired inter-train interval. The mass of each train can reach 7.1 thousand tons, ”the Ostrovsky information center quotes.

The head of the Russian Ministry of Transport, Yevgeny Dietrich, pointed out the importance of opening freight transportation from the peninsula and vice versa. The Minister noted that we are talking about a new step on the road to the economic development of Crimea.

“Cargo turnover will increase, and the cost of transportation of the main cargoes - grain crops, oil products, building materials, chemical fertilizers, metal rolling will decrease by an average of 30-50%," he said.

It is expected that the launch of freight trains will increase the volume of cargo transportation to 3 million tons this year.

Commenting on the start of the movement of freight trains across the Kerch Strait, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Crimean Senator Sergei Tsekov called this event a point in the restoration of communication between Crimea and mainland Russia.

“Before that, we restored the message gradually due to ferries and airplanes. But when the bridge was built, we immediately realized that this was the most important part of the infrastructure. The transport blockade is completely broken. This is an important event for us. It creates good opportunities for equalizing the economy between Crimea and other regions of Russia, ”the senator said in an interview with RT.

He expressed hope that the movement of freight trains will reduce the price of a number of goods on the peninsula and make Crimean products more competitive.

In turn, the Crimean political scientist Vladislav Ganzhara, in an interview with RT, noted that the peninsula fully feels the improvements associated with the launch of the bridge across the Kerch Strait. He agreed with the statement that the launch of freight trains is the final point in the process of ensuring freight traffic between the peninsula and the mainland.

“Crimea was really looking forward to this event, since we understand that the volumes of goods that are delivered to the peninsula today come to us through auto-communication, which does not allow us to do this in large volumes. But launching a freight rail service will seriously affect the quantity, ”said Ganzhara.

The expert also expressed confidence that the launch of freight trains will have an impact on the economic life of Crimea.

“We expect a decrease in the value of a number of product groups. Krymsky Bridge finally completes the stage of logistical integration of the peninsula into the mainland of Russia, ”concluded Ganzhara.

Note that earlier the authorities of the peninsula spoke about the interest of tourists in summer trips to the Crimea by rail. According to the Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of the Peninsula, more than 40 thousand tickets for summer trains have already been sold.

This information was confirmed by the operator of passenger trains to Crimea, the company "Grand Service Express", according to TASS. Moreover, the company does not exclude the launch of additional routes.

While we are talking about trains that will run between the cities of Crimea. The company also decided to launch several new routes, including trains connecting Simferopol with Kislovodsk and Yekaterinburg. In addition, the trains will go from St. Petersburg to Yevpatoria.