MINSK, 4 March (BelTA) – The railway companies of Belarus and Lithuania will be working on attracting additional transit hauls via the ports of Klaipeda and Kaliningrad Oblast, the Belarusian Railways told BelTA commenting on the results of the meeting between the heads of the Belarusian and Lithuanian railway companies.

The parties reviewed the joint work in 2013 and discussed further bilateral cooperation.

The participants of the meeting noted that Belarus and Lithuania would continue the work on keeping the traffic volume and securing competitive tariff terms. Belarusian and Lithuanian partners expressed mutual interest in the development of the Viking project. According to the representatives of the railway companies, cargo flows will be also boosted by the Neman piggyback train project. The train started running on the Kolyadichi-Vilnius/Kaunas-Kolyadichi route on 20 November 2013.

A total of 42 motor vehicles have been transported by the train so far. The parties expressed interest in extending the route to the Draugyste station.

In 2013 cargo transit via the Belarusian railway with Lithuania totaled 6.8 million tonnes, or 100.9% on 2012. Attraction of additional cargo flows including mineral fertilizers, oil products, coal and ferrous metals contribute to the efficiency of the joint work of the Belarusian and Lithuanian railway companies.