News / China-Russia rail freight traffic on the increase, but earnings fall

Photo: Russian Railways

China-Russia rail freight volumes have continued to climb since the Nizhneleninskoye-Tongjiang bridge opened a year ago.

Plagued with development issues – the Chinese section was completed more than seven years before the Russian section – since it finally opened for container traffic, some 10,400 tonnes of containerised cargo have crossed it, according to a  Railfreight report.

It also notes that, with a total of 2.5m tonnes of all types of cargo, accounting for 21% of China-Russia volumes (up 22% YoY), having used the crossing, the bridge had “played a pivotal role” in bolstering flows.

Growth on China-Russia routings may be up, but in its last earnings announcement, Russian Railways reported marginal gains, of 0.1% year on year, indicating a weak improvement in 2022 amid the invasion of Ukraine.

Compounding those poor performances were continuing EU sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion.

Resultantly, the carrier has been left reliant on this eastward reorientation, with MoUs with operators in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, new India and UAE services and approval to start construction on another China-Russia bridge to cut 2,000km from present routes.

Sources told The Loadstar Russia’s railways were banking on this reorientation offering volumes comparable with those lost via sanctions, but were sceptical this would happen.