The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, and the CEO of East-West Intermodal Logistics inaugurated the East-West Gate rail terminal in Fényeslitke, in the immediate vicinity of the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. The first train carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods rolled into the terminal at the ceremony. Ugrain Trade LLC operated the train which transported 44 TEUs of 1,146 tonnes of wheat, millet and green peas are transported to the Csepel Free Port.
Located at the junction of the wide and standard gauge railway tracks, the East-West Gate (EWG) can handle up to one million 20-foot containers per year and is suitable for loading trucks and conventional road semi-trailers onto rail. The EWG also has a significant capacity for transhipment of agricultural products, hence could soon become the largest rail hub for Ukrainian food exports.
“The railway terminal in Fényeslitke which allow track change was built in record time and currently is the most modern transfer terminal in Europe. The terminal, which will employ 500 people, will have a capacity of one million containers per year, which is twice the number of facilities on the border of Belarus and Poland,” Péter Szijjártó said.
HUF 40 billion (EUR 96.8 million) is the value of the project for which the construction started in January 2021 on an 85-hectare site the size of Margaret Island, in the Danube River, between Buda and Pest. A total of 10 km of standard and wide-gauge railway track and 225,000 square metres of concrete pavement were built.
A warehouse of 15,000 square metres is also available for use by the partners, and there is also the possibility of building additional loading and assembly facilities on the 140-hectare development site. EWG received the railway licence from the National Transport Authority in June, after a successful technological and technical trial run, which started in March this year and lasted several months.
The terminal can handle up to 1 million twenty-foot containers (TEUs) per year, making it the largest such facility on the continent in terms of theoretical capacity and area. The East-West Gate rail terminal is capable of transshipment containers between wide gauge and standard gauge, as well as between trains and trucks. EWG is also suitable for loading trucks and conventional road semi-trailers onto rail. This will allow to shift as much as possible of the freight traffic arriving by truck at the EU border to rail, in line with the EU’s climate objectives. EWG’s cranes are ATEX and ADR certified, so they can also trans load special materials such as gas container tanks and chemicals.
The EWG also prepared for transshipment Ukrainian agricultural products, adapting to the war situation. From November 2022, it is expected to be capable of handling 800 tonnes of grain and 450 cubic metres of sunflower oil per hour, making it the largest rail hub for Ukrainian food exports.
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