Spain is testing new options, including rail, to secure its food supply chains. In this regard, the Spanish Ministry of Transport organized a pilot rail shipment of Ukrainian grain. The first train, which ran all the way from the border with Ukraine to the Can Tunis railway station in Barcelona, ​​carried 600 tons of grain in twenty-five 40-foot containers. Although successful, it raised some serious concerns. Railway Supply magazine writes about this with reference to RailFreight.

Terminal
Picture: Spanish Ministry of Transport

“The project serves to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of rail transport of grain as an addition to the sea during the war in Ukraine,” the Spanish Ministry of Transport stressed. However, the government agency also stressed that the pilot could serve as a future solution to other supply chain disruptions such as port closures or incidents like the one in the Suez Canal last year.

The Spanish container train Renfe Mercancías arrived in Barcelona on Thursday 6 October. Before reaching Spain, it travelled 2,400 kilometers from the Chelm terminal on the Polish-Ukrainian border through Lodz and Duisburg. The train has reached its final destination; however, this may not be sufficient for a complete assessment.

The first problems arose at the Chełm terminal, where a congestion situation made it difficult to load Renfe containers and caused significant delays. In addition, there was the problem of compatible infrastructure and equipment. The grain cargo arrived from Ukraine to Poland in trucks and was not loaded into containers. It had to be manually loaded into Renfe liners (special containers with large bags inside, suitable for transporting grain) from trucks. It was a very time-consuming process supported by cranes.

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Although the Spanish train arrived in Chełm in the first week of September, loading procedures did not begin until September 15, and traffic jams at the border were almost impassable for several days.

These difficulties were not enough, the Spanish Ministry of Transport said, and the pilot railway project faced some more problems in Western Europe. In particular, the train, which transited through Lodz and Duisburg on its way to Barcelona, ​​had to stop for several days in Germany, unable to move. Of course, a stop in Duisburg was planned anyway. However, this went on for more days than originally thought. Due to strikes on the French railway network, the authorities restricted traffic.

In the end, the train arrived successfully despite unforeseen or existing but underestimated obstacles. The Spanish Ministry of Transport concluded that this first pilot project did not inspire much optimism. On the contrary, it highlighted the difficulties faced by companies helping Ukrainian exports and showed the lack of centralized coordination in Europe even for projects of this importance.

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