Ukrainian cereals arrive in Spain by train
A train loaded with grain from Ukraine has arrived in Spain as part of a pilot project to study the possibility of using rail transport when sea routes are blocked by the conflict with Russia, the government has announced Spanish Saturday.
As part of a pilot project to study the feasibility of importing grain from Ukraine by rail, a freight train belonging to the Spanish public rail operator Renfe left Madrid on August 9 for the Polish town of Chelm, near the Ukrainian border.
The train, made up of 25 containers each measuring 12 meters, was loaded with 600 tons of Ukrainian grain, before starting the 2,400 kilometer return trip. He arrived in Barcelona on Thursday evening after calling at Lodz in central Poland and Duisburg in western Germany, Spain’s transport ministry said in a statement. “This project allows us to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of rail transport of cereals, in addition to the maritime mode, at a time marked by the war in Ukraine”, underlined the ministry. He “has shown that, in the current context, long-distance rail transport requires a great effort of coordination between the different actors involved in the process”he added.
On July 22, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement, backed by the United Nations and brokered by Turkey, to lift the naval blockade of Moscow and release millions of tonnes of blocked grain, helping to avert a food crisis. world. Since then, dozens of ships loaded with agricultural foodstuffs have left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.