By KYIV. Dec 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Broad-gauge Ukrainian hopper cars with agricultural products can get to four European ports out of 12 without reloading the contents into narrow-gauge European cars: to the German ports of Hamburg and Rostock, the port of Gdansk (Poland) and the port of Constanta (Romania).
According to the website of the Railfreight industry publication, such conclusions are given in a study by DB Engineering & Consulting at the request of Ukrzaliznytsia.
"Of the 12 selected ports, four ports were identified as ports that could be reached with Ukrainian hoppers: the German ports of Hamburg and Rostock, the Polish port of Gdansk and the Romanian port of Constanta. In total, ten routes have been found feasible. In the study the 19-752-type freight car was considered for the journey," the report says.
"There were also four countries identified as not feasible, being Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. This means that nearby ports as Rijeka, Trieste or Genoa are not an option for the hopper cars as a final destination," it reads.
"In the next steps, the remaining issues on the technical compatibility with European standards have to be addressed and resolved, such as safety regulations, noise reduction, and certification of bogie-changing systems (ECM certificate)," the agency said.
