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Favorable conditions for transportation of
cargo and passengers are created by the two-way electrified railway line
Brest-Minsk-border of Russia with the length of 615 km, which is used by cargo
trains with the speed of up to 100 km/h and passenger trains - up to 160m km/h.
Great importance is given to equipment of the
railway with automatic and electronic devices. Automatic locking is installed
on 65.1% of lines, central control dispatch system on 52.5% of operational
ways; 98.1% of switches has remote control using the recent systems of
electrical centralization. Modern types of traction facilities - electrical and
diesel locomotives - are used to transport 21.2% and 78.8% of cargo along the
railway. Technically speaking, a transfer to more advanced traction systems -
powerful diesel and electrical locomotives - has taken place. Transportation
Processes Control Centers of the railway departments are equipped with
fast-response electronic devices.
The share of the railway constitutes over 70%
of all cargo and passenger carriage in the Republic. This main railway is
located along the main direction inside the system of cargo transportation
along land transportation lines between Europe and Asia.
The western border infrastructure of the
railway is developed taking into account the fact that railways of different
track gauges are connected here. The container terminal at the Brest station
has huge capacities that are not completely used today. Reconstruction has been
performed to arrange reloading of refrigeration containers, removable bodies
and semi-trailers. Two new traveling gantry cranes have been installed with
spreaders equipped with bottom clamps. A site has been arranged for keeping
refrigeration containers connected to external electrical supply sources to
maintain the temperature conditions. Railway networks and mechanisms on the
container site allow simultaneous re-loading of two trains with the 1,435 mm
track using any of the options: "car-car", "car-vehicle",
"car-site". On request of the client, containers can move from East
to Brest by railways transport and farther on to Europe by automobile
transport, and vice versa.
The Belarusian railway authorities have a
network of container terminals: 15 for handling large-weight containers (2 - in
Kolyadichi, near Minsk, and in Brest - are used to handle 20-feet and 40-feet
containers) and 29 for handling middleweight containers. The automobile
transport services provided to clients by the railways is well developed.
Beside terminals, the railways have a big fleet
of containers sufficient to meet the needs of enterprises and population of the
Republic. Containers can also be provided for use to foreign firms for carriage
of cargo from European countries to CIS in transit through Belarus. Containers
are maintained in good technical condition. To this end, the railway has a car
depot in Osipovichi whose equipment is manufactured by the world leading
companies. The facilities available in Osipovichi allow repair of containers
and making new containers when required. Repair quality in the depot is
supervised by a representative of the Sea Navigation Register from the Russian
Federation. The capacity of the depot allows repair of eight thousand
containers annually.
Railway authorities are interested in
additional work. Together with railways of neighboring countries the work is
organized for direct speed container and container trains. The container train
Berlin-Moscow called Eastern Wind was started on regular basis from 1995; the
required preparatory and organizational work has been performed for putting
into use container trains Klaipeda-Minsk-Moscow-Klaipeda - Baltic Express. A
number of other container trains and a contrailer train
Berlin-Brest-Moscow-Berlin are at the stage of organization.
Transportation of cargo by speed container
trains guarantees the fulfillment of the most important conditions for transit
carriage: delivery of cargo in time, preservation of cargo, information support
of transportation and competitive rates for transit payment.
The Belarusian railway, together with railways
of Russia, Poland, Germany and Lithuania, works out projects on organization of
cargo transportation by specialized container and cargo trains according to
specially approved timetables with a significant reduction of delivery terms
and the respective technical and information support. Passage of a
demonstration fast train along the line Nakhodka-Moscow-Brest in 8 days and 21
hours with the average speed of 1,150 km/day has shown opportunities of the
Russian and Belarusian railways for deliver of cargo in time and according to
the approved timetable.
When cargo is transported from Japan, South
Korea and sea ports of China the speed of delivery by such trains is 2 times
faster than by sea through the Indian Ocean.
Eastern Wind, a specialized container train
Berlin-Brest-Moscow, has now been extended to Alma-Ata and Nakhodka. In 1997,
101 container trains passed through Brest in the Eastern Wind regime, in 1998
it was 93 trains and during 8 months of 1999 the number was 64 trains. Cargo
containers are brought to the train in Germany by automobile transport directly
to the terminal where trains are formed. The single timetable is organized for
the entire railway route; the train goes according to the agreed timetable
assuring operation control along its entire route.
Cargo handling services have accumulated
experience related to movement of refrigeration container trains along the line
Rotterdam-Brest-Moscow. According to the approved timetable this train starts
from Rotterdam in the evening as 23:40 and arrives to Moscow (Kuntsevo P) in 4
days at 14:43. A daily shuttle train Germany-Poland-Belarus-Russia Russia
Express goes by the agreed timetable. The time for train handling in the Brest
center including reloading constitutes 33 hours 55 minutes.
Work is done together with railways of Russia
and Lithuania to organize container transportation from Scandinavian countries
by container trains Klaipeda-Vilnus-Minsk-Moscow. Opportunity is discussed on
organizing transportation of articulated trucks and semi-trailers on
specialized platforms along the line Malashevichi-Brest-Moscow.
For the purpose of accelerated handling of
organized trains and provision of opportunity for preliminary co-ordination of
customs cargo control conditions at the Brest railway center, a system has been
organized on receipt of preliminary information from the shipper and from the
handing-over railways station of the Polish railways; translation of
transportation, hand-over and accompanying documents using computer facilities
has been organized. This makes it possible to half the time needed for
arrangement of documents. Besides, such technology allows shippers to get
information in advance from the railway on possible causes of delay of specific
containers and cargo cars on the border connected with incorrect arrangement of
transport documents or absence of required appendices to such documents.
The most important items of cargo in the
nomenclature of exported cargo include oil products, chemical and mineral
fertilizers, construction materials, ferrous metals, timber, etc.
Enterprises of the Republic enjoy privileges
provided that applications for loading are submitted.
In 1992, a working group was organized for
coordinating activities of railway transport within the framework of the Union
of Russia and Belarus.
From 2 September 1999, a simplified procedure
was introduced related to customs clearance of cargo moved through organized
trains Russia Express and Eastern Wind. This procedure envisages application of
short form of the required documentation. Only 20 lines are to be filled
instead of the previous 54 lines.
Joint information systems have been organized
at the railway transport that allow the submission of the required data on the
location of cargo on the way. In 1998, the Belarusian railway made the
Agreement on information support of transportation with the German, Polish and
Russian railways. In June of 1998 the agreement was signed with
Latviasdzelzcelsh State Joint-stock Company On the Procedure of Preparation of
Documents for Customs Clearance of Cargo Moved by Railway Transport across the
Belarusian-Latvian Border. All this would allow the reduction of customs
clearance time at the border entry railway stations of Belarus.
The railway has organized powerful enterprises
for repair of diesel trains in the Lida depot and of electrical trains in the
Baranovichi depot. Auxiliary facilities are under construction, including the
Brest depot for repair of diesel trains and railway cranes and the Vitebsk
depot - reconstruction of the diesel and electrical machine shop.
Reconstruction of the locomotive depot in Orsha is planned so as to create a
facility for repair of passenger diesel locomotives.
It is important to equip the railway with new
locomotives replacing the old depreciated ones. Ageing of the fleet
necessitates additional labor and material resources for maintaining it in
working condition.
From 1992, the Belarusian railway is a member
of the intergovernmental Organization For Co-Operation Of Railways. This
organization develops principles for bringing together transport law applied in
international passenger and cargo transportation and forms common principles of
transport policy, including combined transportation between countries of Europe
and Asia. Work is done for solving environmental problems at the railway
transport. One of the main tasks in joint activities is to assure a sustainable
development and higher competitiveness of the railway transport on the
transport services market. Co-operation of railways of the countries that are
members of this organization makes it possible to take specific measures
stipulating improvement of international railway transportation and solution of
operation, technical and environmental; problems of the railway transport
sector.
For the purpose of integration of the
Belarusian railway into the single European transport system, it became a
member of the International Union of Railways in July 1992. The Belarusian
railway made an agreement on co-operation with this Union that defines priority
lines of actions in this international organization.
A further step along the way of integration is
implementation of the initiative on creation of the Integrated group of
railways with the track gauge of 1,520 mm in the Baltic States and the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
Automobile Transport
The relatively short length of the Republic
territory from north to south and from west to east facilitates development of
the automobile transport. Its share in the total amount of cargo transportation
constituted 75% and around 20% in the cargo turnover in 2000.
A huge volume of transit automobile carriage
goes across the territory of the Republic. In 1997, carriers of Russia,
Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Checz Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and
other countries made 316,100 trips (in 1996 the number of transit trips was
223,200).
Belarus has almost optimum developed network of
motor roads, which allows an all-year connection practically with all
population settlements. The length of the common-user roads reached 63,400 km
(1998), of which 70% were cement- and asphalt-concrete-paved. The main roads
constitute 3,800 km. As regards the length of the roads per 1,000 persons (4.9
km) Belarus ranks 12th and as regards the density per 1,000 km2 of the
territory (245 km) it ranks 15th among the states with the developed road
networks.
The main state document defining legal,
economic and organizational grounds for management of motor roads is the Law of
the Republic of Belarus On Motor Roads passed in 1994.
The Republican body of state management of road
facilities is the Committee on Motor Roads at the Ministry of Transport and
Communications, which carries out executive, control, regulatory and other
functions in the sphere of road facility management.
The employer's functions in the structure of
management of the road facilities are executed by the governmental motor roads
enterprises: Magistralavtodor and 6 Avtodor enterprises - one enterprise in
each Oblast of the Republic, whereas contractual work in the sphere of
construction, repair and maintenance of motor roads are fulfilled by
organizations and firms of different forms of property. In this way the system
of state priorities in distributing facilities, organizing control and
regulation during various road operations is formed and maintained.
The road network implements Roads of Belarus
State Program for 1997-2005 which defines the following main priorities:
improvement of transport and operational condition of the existing roads;
providing stable transport ties; further development of international transport
corridors; reconstruction of the most cargo-intensive sections of roads and
distressed bridges.
Other priorities include further increase of
road traffic safety, liquidation of unpaved sections, better provision of
information to drivers, introduction of route orientation systems, improvement
of engineering facilities (road signs, barriers, marking, etc.).
Recognizing the important contribution of
European conferences on issues of transport held in Prague (1991), on the
island of Crete (1994) and in Helsinki (1997), into a further development of
fruitful co-operation in the sphere of transport and into the formation of the
main guidelines for creation of a single transport policy in Europe, Belarus
performs work for development of trans-European transport corridors crossing
its territory.
The territory of Belarus is crossed by two
trans-European transport corridors defined by the international classification
as number II (West-East) and number IX (North-South) with the branch IXB.
Within the number II trans-European transport
corridor, the territory of Belarus is crossed by M-I/E-30 Brest-Minsk-Russian
Federation border Highway. M-8/E-95 Highway the Russian Federation
border-Vitebsk-Gomel-Ukrainian border crosses the Republic's territory from
north to south, has the length of 456 km and is a part of the Crete transport
corridor IX connecting Finland, Lithuania, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova,
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
The branch IXB of this corridor
Gomel-Minsk-Klaipeda-Kaliningrad is 468 km long before the territory of Belarus
and provides access to cargo owners from regions of Eastern Ukraine and Central
Russia to specialized seaports of Klaipeda, Ventspils and Kaliningrad. M-I/E-30
Brest-Minsk-Russian Federation border Highway is a part of the Crete corridor
II Berlin-Warsaw-Minsk-Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod connecting Germany, Poland,
Belarus and Russia and defined by the European Union as the supreme priority
among the Crete corridors in view of importance of trade streams between East
and West passing along this corridor. Its length in the territory of the
Republic is 606 km.
This highway was built at different sections
from 1940 till 1997 and has over its entire length, except for the section of
37 km from Orsha to the Russian Federation border, four lanes with the central
reserve. The traffic intensity on certain parts of the highway reaches
8,500-10,000 vehicles per 24 hours.
To improve the highway, provide for its
management at the contemporary level and provide to road users safe,
comfortable, reliable and fast conditions, Belavtostrada State Enterprise was
set up in 1994, which fulfils the functions of the employer on design,
construction, improvement and maintenance of the highway and its structures;
works out prospects for the development of the motor road network, its
structures and control system; develops services for road users involving
economic subjects with different forms of property; studies the conditions of
transport traffic, develops and implements actions for traffic improvement;
collects tolls for the sue of the highway by transport; supervises traffic of
heavy and large-size transport vehicles.
Belavtostrada Enterprise includes the board of
management and 8 road-maintenance units located uniformly along the entire
highway as well as technological communication, mechanization and service
entities.
The road-operation organizations are equipped
with modern equipment for highway winter and current maintenance; a system of
meteorological stations has been organized that allows a permanent supervision
over the condition of the pavement and taking operative measures for organizing
the highway winter maintenance.
In 1982, the Republic of Belarus joined the
European Agreement on international main roads, thus, undertaking commitments
on compliance with the requirements to such roads. It should be noted that
M-I/E-30 Highway mostly meets the requirements applied to trans-European main
roads.
In 1992-1993 the European Commission provided
assistance to the road administration of Belarus, within the TACIS program, in
conducting investigations, preparing feasibility report and working out a
project of step-by-step development of this highway.
In January 1994 the Government of the Republic
of Belarus took a decision on modernizing this highway so as to make its
parameters comply with the international standards in conformity with the
European agreement on international main roads. In April 1994 the Government of
the Republic of Belarus and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development signed the Agreement on loan for the M-1I/E-30 Highway Improvement
Project in conformity with which the Bank provided credits equivalent to $50
million to finance the work.
The fulfillment of the range of work on highway
improvement on the section from the town of Ivatsevichi to the city of Minsk,
234 km, was started in September 1994 and completed in October 1998; the credit
should be repaid in 2007.
The highway section improvement was performed
by the company Todini Construzioni S.p.A. (Italy), which won the international
tender, with participation of Belarusian contractual organisations; the
technical supervision was conducted by the firm Kampsax International A/S (Denmark).
In conformity with the conditions of the
Agreement on loan and the decision of the Government of the Republic of
Belarus, from 1 November 1996 the users of transport vehicles pay for the use
of this highway; the payment is used for repay of the credit and interests to
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as for
maintenance, repair and reconstruction of the highway.
Beginning with 1994, expenditures of the
Republic of Belarus connected with the highway improvement have totaled $122
million, including $50 million of the European Bank and $70 million from the
Republic' budget. In 1999 the work on highway improvement was continued on the
section from the Minsk bypass to the town of Zhodino, 35 km.
The resources provided by the Republic were
used in 1998 to complete improvement of the highway section Borisov-Orsha,
123.8 km. Improvement of this road section cost the Republic about $110
million.
In conformity with the worked out Plan of
Development of Road Services for the Main Road Network of the Republic of
Belarus till 2005 M-I/E-30 Highway has 9 service complexes, including petrol
stations, cafes, hotels, motels, camping facilities, paid parking areas, and
automobile maintenance stations. Among them the most popular with the drivers are
the complexes Lukoil-Brest (the 19th km), Novaya Veska (the 257th km), Gnom
(the 279th km), Vesta (the 314th km), Magistral (the 442nd km), and
Lukoil-Byelorussia (the 602nd km).
The system of services for road users includes
23 petrol stations, maintenance stations, 21 guarded parking lots, motels, and
32 permanent catering facilities.
Twenty-five service facilities are at the stage
of construction, including 3 complexes for providing drivers and passengers
with a full range of required services. Projects for construction of 23 such
facilities have been approved. Thus, the formation of the service structure
along this road will be practically completed in the near future.
The telecommunication network existing along
the sections of M-I/E-30 Highway from the city of Brest to the city of Borisov
(70% of the road length) gives the users opportunity to communicate with the
operator on duty at the respective sections of the main road. The operator
interacts between the user and the organisation providing required services:
communication with the State Road Inspection, medical institutions, technical
aid, and road services. About 117 emergency communication stations have been
organised.
The highway includes a modern system for early
detection of icing, which allows prognosis of weather and climatic conditions
and timely measures needed to assure safe traffic. Twelve meteorological posts,
7 stations for traffic account and 4 stations for vehicles weighing are in
operation.
A project has been worked out for development
of a telecommunication system for this highway along the section from the city
of Borisov to the Russian Federation border. It is provided to use
fibre-optical communication lines to unite all technological (road operation)
complexes into the single highway management system. It is also planned to
arrange one meteorological station, 85 emergency communication stations and
radio communication with mobile facilities, and to unite service stations into
a single network.
The decision of the Government of the Republic
of Belarus of November 1995 introduced payment by vehicle owners (users) for
M-I/E-30 Brest-Minsk-Russian Federation border Highway. Payment is collected
for the passage of vehicles along the highway by Belavtostrada Enterprise in
conformity with the established rates.
Tolls for the use of the highway are not
collected from owners (users) of vehicles carrying humanitarian-aid cargo - on
submission of the respective documents.
The road toll system provides for making
payments with different currencies, by means of plastic electronic cards,
clearance payment for foreign users with plastic cards EUROSHELL. At present,
the toll collection system is improved so as to simplify payment and make
clearance settlement using VISA and EURO-Card/Master-Card credit cards.
Thanks to the improved road infrastructure and
created favorable conditions for the road users a stable tendency has been seen
in the recent years towards reduction of the number of accidents on M-I/E-30
Highway.
The number of road accidents in 1998 went down
by more than 35% as compared to 1995; the number of affected persons was
reduced 1.3 times.
Implementation of the highway improvement
project already now allows vehicles owners to feel the real advantages of this
highway and make sure that the improvement of transport and operation
indicators of the highway has resulted in decreased operation costs for the
automobile transport, reduced wear of tyres, saving of fuel, greater comfort
and safety of traffic. Resources invested by the Republic into improvement and
reconstruction of this highway as well as foreign investments involved have
given opportunity to equip the road with the modern systems of information
about the weather and pavement conditions, to improve the road maintenance
system and to provide operation organizations with mobile high-performance
equipment. The cargo customs terminal was put into operation in the city of
Brest. Actions planned to improve operation of Kozlovichi-Kukuryki Border Crossing
Point must reduce the time of vehicles stay while crossing the
Belarusian-Polish border. It is planned to work out in the nearest time,
together with the Ministry of Transport and Marine Facilities of the Republic
of Poland a project and construct a new bridge across the Western Bug River at
this crossing point.
Given consideration of the importance of the
Crete corridor II for future development of transport communication and trade
both in Western and Eastern Europe as well as the substantial contribution of
the Republic of Belarus into its development, it is expedient to continue
improvement of this highway involving investments of the international
financial organisations and of other concerned investors that are ready to
invest their capital into the development of the main highway and the road
infrastructure.
Investigations conducted and the results of the
feasibility study for the development of the M-I/E-30 Brest-Minsk-Russian
Federation border Highway Improvement Project show that investments needed for
the project constitute $ 119.0 million, including $ 60.7 million of loans.
Investments can be involved as long-term credit
of international financial organizations or other concerned investors for 10
years or more. The repayment of such credits can be effected using resources
collected as tolls for the use of the highway by vehicles minus the amount
needed for repay of the credit of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development and associated interests.
It is proposed that investments should be
involved through setting up a joint-stock company (management company) on the
basis of Belavtostrada Enterprise with participation of Belarusian and foreign
investors; one of them may be the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development. The commitments of this joint-stock company would include repair
of the remaining part of M-I/E-30 Highway, maintenance of the entire highway
during a predetermined period, collection of tolls and repay of the previous
and follow-up credits involved for its development.
The Republic has created a modern effective
system of guarantees and protection of foreign investments that assures
reduction of investment risks and increase of trust not only in Belarusian
economic subjects but also in the State as a whole.
In opinion of the Ministry of Transport of the
Russian Federation, the extension of the trans-European corridor number II to
Nizhny Novgorod and later the development of the Trans-Siberian main road to
Vladivostok and Nakhodka; then the revival of the Trans-Siberian main road with
the relevant development of the transport infrastructure will make it possible
to put into operation an inter-continental Eurasian intermodal transport system
balanced by its technical and operational parameters.
Aviation Transport
Belarus has a network of airports connected by
airways with 30 towns and cities of the CIS countries; the Minsk-2
international airport conducts air flights to a number of cities of Europe,
Asia and America. The operation fleet of the Belarusian civil aviation includes
11 types of airliners (84 aircraft).
The largest air company BELAVIA is a member of
the international association of aviation carriers IATA from 1997. It executes
almost 90% of all passenger transportation, making regular flights on 27
airlines: Berlin, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Rome, Vienna, Stockholm, Istanbul, Prague,
Beijing, London, Tel-Aviv, Larnaca, Shannon, Moscow, Tashkent, Kiev, Yerevan,
etc. This air company implements a broad programme of charter flights in summer
(to Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, etc.) and has agent agreements on
sale of air transportation by its flights with 24 firms in 15 countries of the
world.
Transaviaexport Air Company specialises mainly
in transportation of cargo to countries of Europe, South America, Southeast
Asia, and the Middle East.
Water Transport
Belarus has a network of river navigable routes
with the length of about 2,000 km that connect the country with bordering
states. Navigation routes go along the rivers Sozh, Berezina, Dnepr, Pripyat,
Neman, West Dvina and the Dnepr-Bug Canal.
Enterprises of the river fleet fully meet the
needs in transportation of passengers by the water transport of the Republic.
Passenger carriage is effected in the towns of Gomel, Brest, Pinsk, Mozyr,
Grodno, Mogilev and Loev.
The river fleet of Belarus today includes
modern speedy passenger ships of Polessye type (hydrofoil craft) with the
capacity of 53 persons, suburban passenger ships, tug fleet, tugged cargo ships
and special ships.
The port facilities are equipped with
high-performance floating and portal cranes and mechanized cargo lines designed
for fast handling of ships.
Ten river ports of the Republic of Belarus are
capable of transporting and handling about 22 million tons of cargo. River
ports of Gomel, Bobruysk, Brest and Mozyr have railway approach lines and can
be used for handling of cargo transported in different directions.
Waterway enterprises maintain the required
depth of the rivers for navigation of pushed and tugged rolls with the capacity
up to 2,000 tons. They have the required bottom- deepening and excavation
facilities, modern navigation sluices and hydraulic installations as well as
navigation equipment.
The Republic of Belarus has 4 shipbuilding and
repairs plants the capacity of which allows building new ships with the
dead-weight up to 3,000 tons of any class as well as repair of ships in
operation.
Although Belarus is an inland state, it strives
to create its own sea trade fleet.
Pipeline Transport
The national pipelines network includes gas and
oil pipelines with branches that connect the Republic with Russia, Ukraine,
Lithuania and Latvia.
Natural gas is imported from Russia in transit
to Lithuania, Ukraine and countries of Western Europe by gas pipelines whose
length is 1,700 km. Six compressor stations are located in the territory of the
Republic.
The total length of oil pipelines laid in the
territory of the Republic constitutes over 3,000 km. They are used to import
crude oil to oil refineries of the Republic and for transit of Russian oil to
West European countries. The oil pipelines are represented by powerful and
high-capacity systems: Druzhba (Kuybyshev-Unecha-Mozyr-Brest, Unecha-Polotsk,
Mozyr-Brody-Uzhgorod, Polotsk-Ventspils); Surgut-Polotsk. Druzhba Oil Pipeline
provides crude oil to the Polotsk, Mozyr and Majeikai (Lithuania) oil
refineries. This oil pipeline includes systems of main oil pipelines
Unecha-Polotsk, Polotsk-Ventspils, Polotsk-Birjai-Majeikai with the complete
technological cycle.
Work is under way on technical update of the
pipeline transport, automation of pump station control, increase of the
aggregate power of pump and power equipment and compressors, automation of
pumping technology, and decrease of the distance between pumping stations.