The extreme weather conditions in Central and Eastern Europe have posed significant challenges for the Silk Road trains. As Martin Koubek, Director of Silk Road and CIS at METRANS, pointed out, the traffic via Malaszewicze to southeast Europe, through southern Poland, has been severely disrupted.
The situation results from the mostly impassable border crossings between Poland and Czechia. The latter has been heavily impacted by the floods, with key corridors to neighbouring countries closed until further notice.
“Our train running during the weekend had to be rerouted via Germany but is now in Ceska Trebova (Czechia) waiting for the last mile service to the customers,” explained Koubek. “Other trains in this direction are now under evaluation with respect to the infrastructure situation. The same applies for services to Budapest and Serbia,” he added.
Fortunately, no METRANS terminals have been flooded, even though some of them were not accessible due to damaged access infrastructure.
‘We have to wait’
The recovery of routes is already underway. For example, in Czechia, “the corridor line Hranice na Moravě – Ostrava-Kunčice should probably be put into operation on Friday, 20 September 2024,” rail freight operator ČD Cargo pointed out.
Moreover, some passenger traffic was restored along the Zebrzydowice – Petrovice border crossing, which is critical for Silk Road traffic. However, dozens of trains, both passenger and freight, keep getting cancelled or running on shortened routes.
“We have information from the Czech infrastructure manager that there will be closures until next week at minimum, but we will see which rail lines will be prioritised in reopening. It will take some time, so we must wait and evaluate rerouting possibilities,” concluded Koubek.