The railways of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova agreed last week to extend their cooperation for another three years. The cooperation has significant benefits for rail freight transport. Since the beginning of the war, 397 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain have been exported by rail through the border crossings with Moldova and 363.6 thousand tons of petroleum products have been imported. In total, exports have increased 1.5 times to 1,247 thousand tons and imports have increased 3 times to 492 thousand tons.
"Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Moldovan railway has become an even more important partner for us. Our neighbors have helped us export grain and import much-needed diesel fuel. We are committed to further deepening relations and cooperation between our railways," said Oleksandr Kamyshin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia".
As we also reported, the first important steps to improve Ukrainian-Moldovan cooperation were taken in the summer of 2022, when the infrastructure of the Berezine-Basarabeasca section, which had been out of service for a quarter of a century, was restored. "During the works, Ukrainian railway workers helped us to rebuild our part of this section. The work was completed in record time - just over a month. That is why we are planning to continue using Ukrainian specialists to repair the country's railway infrastructure. This will help improve the safety and speed of trains," said Oleg Tofilat, Director of the state company "Railways of Moldova".
In the autumn of last year the international passenger train line between Kyiv and Chisinau was reopened after 24 years. Thanks to this train, Ukrainians can reach the international airport in Moldova and continue their journey to other countries around the world. In three and a half months, more than 10,000 passengers have used this service.
