Think Railways

VIKING train transported 44,100 containers (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2014, an increase of 2.7% compared to previous year. The railway administrations of Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Turkey's BALO (Great Anatolia Logistics Organization) are involved in the intermodal train VIKING project.

According to Belarusian Railways, the partners are closely collaborating with railway services, cargo owners and other forwarders with a view to extending the route of the VIKING train towards Turkey, Georgia and later to Azerbaijan and via the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan. Georgian Railways has already expressed interest to join the project.

The combined transport train Viking goes along Pan-European Corridor IX and crosses Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. The route connects a number of sea container lines of the Baltic Sea region with a similar system of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The Viking Train covers a distance of 1.7 thousand km within 52 hours.