‘India To Europe Via Russia’: Russian Railways And India Plan To Create Joint Rail Freight Operator

Russian Railways and India plans to create a joint rail freight operator for boosting traffic of goods from India to Europe through Russia, the Russian company's first Deputy CEO Alexander Misharin said, reports SputnikNews.

"The important area [of cooperation], which has been developing this year, is the organisation of shipping, including in the North-South Transport Corridor, and the creation of a joint operator… We believe that it is one of the most important aspects which will allow for significantly increasing the volumes of shipping and traffic of goods from India and Europe and in the opposite direction through the Russian territory," Misharin told reporters.

Russian Railways and Indian Railways plan to sign a memorandum on the development of cooperation which includes designing and delivering traffic control systems, Misharin added.

"Today, we plan to sign a memorandum and an agreement on the development of cooperation which includes creating and delivering systems of traffic control, security and automatic controls," reports quoted Misharin saying.

Russian Railways is reported to have plans to deliver rolling stock to Indian Railways, "Today, we will discuss the joint organisation and the delivery of the rolling stock as well as the localisation [of manufacturing] and the organisation of building railroad cars here," Misharin said.

According to Misharin, the volume rail traffic in India is high, therefore entering the Indian market is very important and exciting for the Russian Railways.

"The first batch there is 100 railroad cars. And we have further big prospects because the market here can be measured in thousands [of railroad cars]," Misharin pointed out.