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CIS railways’ freight traffic totaled nearly 3 bln tonne-kilometers 2011

About international freight traffic Yakunin said that their amount last year increased against 2010 by eleven percent

MOSCOW, May 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The CIS railways’ freight traffic in 2001 totaled 2.7 billion tonne-kilometers, the president of the Russian railways company (RZD) Vladimir Yakunin said this week.

He recalled that such a parameter was achieved despite the effects of the economic crisis of 2008.

“We are in a situation where the economy requires the railways’ operation at a high level of effectiveness,” the RZD chief said, adding that these parameters “fully reflect the trends of social and economic development in individual industries of the economy that provide the bulk of cargoes.”

About international freight traffic Yakunin said that their amount last year increased against 2010 by eleven percent.

Also, the RZD president recalled that 20 years ago, when the Council for the Railway Transport of the CIS and Baltic Countries was created, the freight traffic in the CIS was almost 2.8 billion tonne-kilometers.

“But the emergence of new borders and the general condition of the member economies caused the freight traffic to decline by 1998 to a record-low of 1.4 billion tonne-kilometers,” Yakunin said. After that the railway traffic developed a steady uptrend.

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