Container train Viking is scheduled to run to Baltic states as well beginning from 2014, Rifat Hisarciklioglu, President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) told in a written statement on Sunday.
The Viking intermodal service has been extended to Turkey after Lithuanian Railways has signed an agreement with Turkish freight forwarding company BALO.
With the new route, which will start in 2014, shipment from Tekirdag, Turkey will be carried to Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Belorussia and Lithuania, the statement said.
BALO, which started train services to Germany twice a week in September 2013, is also to launch scheduled block train services from 10 different points to Europe by the end of 2014, it added.
Hisarciklioglu also said that they were preparing to launch train services from Istanbul to Islamabad, Pakistan under a new project named Gul [name of the project comes from Turkish President Abdullah Gul's surname].
"We also plan to revive historic Silkroad. I mean we are looking for ways to ensure that Turkish businesses profit more from our strategic position between Europe and Asia. Modernization and BALO project are a result of this vision," he added through a written statement.
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