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500th Transcontainer Train Arrives in Kaluga with Assembly Parts for Volkswagen Group Rus.

On 8th July, the 500th container train operated by OJSC Transcontainer (a subsidiary of Russian Railways) arrived in Kaluga carrying parts for the Volkswagen Group Rus plant. Taking part in a ceremony to mark the event were RZD’s CEO Vladimir Yakunin, the General Director of Transcontainer Petr Baskakov, the General Director of Volkswagen Group Rus Ditmar Kortsevkva, the Governor of Kaluga Region Anatoliy Artamonov, representative form Deutsche Bahn AG, and other officials.

After winning a tender run by Volkswagen Logistic in October 2007, RZD, acting via its subsidiary Transcontainer and jointly with Belorussian, Polish, Czech and Slovak railways, began work on the project to deliver Volkswagen and Skoda car assembly parts from Velka-Ida (Slovakia) and Mlada-Boleslav (Czech Republic) to the Volkswagen plant in Kaluga.

Transcontainer was appointed operator of the train inside Russia. Its lead partner in the project is Germany’s Schenker Automative RailNet GmbH (a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn), which transports the car parts by rail on the European section of the route.

In November 2007, Transcontainer signed a contract with Volkswagen Rus for transportation of car assembly components to the Volkswagen plant in Kaluga. Under the project Transcontainer provides a comprehensive service (including financial settlements with RZD and Belorussian Railways) for supply of components and car parts along the 1520-mm gauge line (Brest – Kaluga route) using its own equipment.

The train now covers the 2,005 km from Mlada-Boleslav (Czech Republic) to Kaluga in just 4 days, which is three times faster than the original delivery time (12 days).

From project startup in 2007 to the present day 128,000 TEUs (20-foot containers) have been delivered.

In 2008, 88,916 TEUs were delivered along the Brest-Kaluga-Brest route (44,800 from West to East, and 44,116 from East to West).

From January to June 2009 the route handled 36,530 TEUs (18,722 from West to East, and 17,758 from East to West).

Average monthly traffic during the first half of 2009 was 1,700 containers.

In July 2009, Volkswagen expanded the range of vehicles produced in Kaluga to include the VW Caddy and VW Transporter. As a result, two new supply routes will be added to the project from Poland and Germany, with planned delivery volumes of 24,000 FEU (1,000 40-foot containers) each month in a West-East direction through Brest station.

At the present time car components for large-scale kit assembly are being transported.

Railway infrastructure has been upgraded to support the project.

RZD is currently completing work on the Perspektivnaya railway station involving, amongst other things, extending two lines for receipt and dispatch of long container trains (over 80 wagons).

In late 2008, Volkswagen completed construction of a separate railway line from the plant to Perspektivnaya station, and this year plans to open its own customs post at the plant in Kaluga. Volkswagen Group Rus will therefore receive and dispatch most of its freight by rail (delivery of assembly parts to the plant, delivery of new cars to dealer networks).

In June 2009, at an official ceremony involving over 100 representatives of Volkswagen’s international partner companies, Transcontainer and Schenker Automative RailNet GmbH were won a Volkswagen 2009 Group Award. This is the first time in the car giant’s history that an award has been given to its logistics partners. Both companies were listed amongst Volkswagen’s 18 best suppliers worldwide for special achievements in organizing supply logistics for the Kaluga plant.