In the January-April period of the Republic of Turkey State Railways Freight Inc. (TCDD Freight Inc.), domestic transportation increased by 24.8%, and international transportation increased by 19.8% compared to the same period of the previous year.
According to the information obtained by the AA correspondent from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure General Directorate of TCDD Freight Inc., the increase in rail freight transport, which has been at the forefront in ensuring the continuity of trade, continued in the first four months of 2021. Contrary to the contraction in other transportation sectors due to the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic, an increase in rail freight transportation was recorded.
In the January-April period of this year, there was an increase of 24.8% in domestic transportation and 19.8% in international transportation compared to the same period of the previous year.
Turkey has become an important center in the international railway corridor with its priority railroad policies, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Line and the Marmaray Bosphorus Tube Crossing, which have been renewed and modernized for the last 18 years.
With the increase in the variety of wagons, the importance of rail transportation with its fast, safe and economic advantages has been better understood in the epidemic conditions that shook all sectors while rail freight transportation has reached its competitive power with other transportation modes. Various types of wagons were produced with the development of the national and domestic railway industry. A wide range of products has been reached with these wagons.
While 7 million 654 thousand 800 loads were transported with 209 thousand 114 wagons in domestic transportation in the first four months of last year, in the same period of this year, 9 million 549 thousand 503 tons of freight was reached with 255 thousand 222 wagons. While the number of wagons, which was 30 thousand 768 in international transportation, reached 36 thousand 698, the amount of freight increased from 1 million 141 thousand 201 tons to 1 million 366 thousand 951 tons.
With these increases, TCDD Freight, which carries 81 thousand tons of cargo with an average of 170 train trips per day in 2020, in the first 4 months of this year, exceeded 100 thousand tons per day with an average of 210 trips. TCDD Freight pioneered the growth of the sector by leasing wagons to the private sector. Thus, the share of rail transport in total transport has reached 5%.
Source: Hurriyet / Translated by Irem Yildiz