Russian rails carry 294.6 mln tonnes of cargo in Jan-Mar, up 5.5%
MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) - The railways in Russia carried 294.6 million tonnes of freight in January-March, a 5.5% year-on-year increase, OJSC Russian Railways (RZD) reported.
Rail-shipping of bituminous coal increased 1.5% to 75.6 million tonnes during this period, that of coke - 3.4% to 3.2 million tonnes, oil and oil products - 0.8% to 63 million tonnes, iron and manganese ore - 8.1% to 26 million tonnes, ferrous metals - 9.1% to 19 million tonnes, ferrous metal scrap - 6.8% to 3.5 million tonnes, chemical and mineral fertilizers - 4.6% to 12.2 million tonnes, cement - 16.7% to 5.7 million tonnes, construction materials - 28.9% to 30.5 million tonnes, chemicals and soda - 4.8% to 7.4 million tonnes, and containers - 12.6% to 4.6 million tonnes.
On the other hand, 0.7% less timber was transported by rail in Q1 (10.7 million tonnes in all), 11.7% less grain and milled products (4 million tonnes), and 6.3% less raw industrial and molding materials.
Freightage by rail increased just 1.5% to 104.7 million tonnes in March alone.
Q1 cargo-turnover increased 9% to 513.2 billion tonne/kilometers, March turnover 5.7% to 181.5 billion tonne/km.