You're reading: Yanukovych orders cabinet, Ukrzaliznytsia to expand geography of Viking project

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has ordered the government and the State Railway Administration of Ukraine (Ukrzaliznytsia) to work on the issue of expanding the geography of the Viking transport project, the press service of the head of state has reported.

The press service said that he gave the order at a meeting with representatives of Lithuanian business circles in Vilnius on Wednesday.

Yanukovych noted that the said project was launched in 2003 when he was prime minister of Ukraine (the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Viking combined train was celebrated on February 6, 2013).

The president said that over the 10 years over 55,000 containers were shipped under the project. Transportation under the project considerably grew over the past years.

General Director of JSC Lithuanian Railways Stasis Dailydka greeted everyone with the 10th anniversary of the project. He said that the Viking project is being successfully developed.

“The economic effect is excellent, the project is being developed,” he said.

The Viking combined train passes through Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania and unites a chain of sea container and piggyback lines of the Baltic region with the similar system of the Black, Mediterranean and Caspian seas. Its route length is 1,753 kilometers.