Representatives of Belarusian Railways took part in the second session of the Belarusian-Lithuanian working group on interaction in transit and transport affairs in Minsk on 16 April, the press service of Belarusian Railways told BelTA. The sides decided to continue working to improve passenger transportation between Belarus and Lithuania, including efforts to always offer competitive tariffs for the sake of attracting passengers. Apart from that, the railway administration intends to cooperate with the border service and the customs service to improve the border-crossing experience for passenger trains. Participants of the meeting also discussed joint actions meant to organize rapid railway service between Minsk and Vilnius and the electrification of the Molodechno – Gudogai – the state border – Kena - Naujoji Vilnia line. According to Belarusian Railways, in 2014 over 356,000 passengers were transported by rail between Belarus and Lithuania. Cargo transportation between the two countries rose by 22% from 2013. In 2014 the share of Lithuanian Railways in the total volume of international transportation by Belarusian Railways amounted to 33.2% of the outgoing traffic, 5.5% of the incoming traffic, and 15% of the transit traffic. The sides confirmed their mutual interest in increasing and attracting new volumes of cargo transportation in Belarus and Lithuania and agreed to exercise the efforts necessary to raise their competitive ability, said the press service of Belarusian Railways. Performance of the combined transport train Viking was praised. The geography of the project will be expanded to include, in particular, Scandinavian countries, Transcaucasia, and the Middle East. Belarusian First Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Yevgeny Rogachev and Lithuanian Vice Minister for Transport and Communications Saulius Girdauskas signed the relevant protocol at the end of the session.
Written by belta.by
