Cargo 10, the joint railway company of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, began operating today.
The first train of the joint railway company, transporting wooden briquettes for the Italian market in 32 freight cars from Paracin to the Slovenian town of Sezana, passed through Belgrade today around 12 PM.
On the occasion of the passing of the train through the railway station in Batajnica, Serbian Minister of Infrastructure Milutin Mrkonjić said that, thanks to the joint venture, the three companies would increase their annual foreign currency incomes by 50 million euros each. Mrkonjic expects 2,000 freight trains, instead of current 1,000, to operate on the route of Corridor 10 every year.
Slovenian Minister of Transport Patrik Vlacic said that, thanks to that company, the railway link between the Western Europe and Turkey, which had lost its importance over the previous 20 years, would be used again.
Danijel Mileta, the State Secretary in the Croatian Ministry of Transport, expressed the expectation that Cargo 10 would benefit the economies and companies of all three countries.
The first train of railway company Cargo 10 left the station in Paracin at 8.30 AM and it should reach Sezana, situated in the vicinity of the Italian-Slovenian border, some 20 hours later, which is 10 hours less than before. As Serbian Railways announced, one train will operate on that route every week, while the annual contract envisages the transport of 50,000 tons of briquettes. As it was announced earlier, the headquarters of Cargo 10 will be in Ljubljana.
The joint railway will have at its disposal 5% of all trains of the railway companies of the three countries. One of the aims of the new company is to shorten customs procedures on border crossings in order for the trains of the joint company to travel faster. The railway companies of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia own one third of Cargo 10 each and they will be sharing the profit in the same proportion.
The agreement on the formation of the joint railway company of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia was reached in late July 2010 in order for the transport of goods and passengers on pan-European Corridor 10 to be made more efficient, profitable and faster, that is, in order to cut the time of travel from Ljubljana to Istanbul from current 57 to 35 hours.
The ceremony of the passing of the first train of Cargo 10 through Belgrade was attended by the directors of the railway companies of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as the representatives of the railway companies of Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Source www.ekapija.com
