Europe’s largest onshore intermodal logistics terminal opened near Ukraine border

Europe’s largest and most modern green concept land-based intermodal terminal has been built in record time, with a private investment of more than HUF 40 billion, in Fényeslitke, in the immediate vicinity of the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. 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 first train carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods rolled into the terminal at the handover ceremony

Following the preparatory works, construction of the East-West Gate terminal started in January 2021 on an 85-hectare site the size of Margaret Island. A total of 10 kilometres 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.

Minister Szijjártó inaugurates the railway intermodal combi terminal

Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, inaugurated a 30 billion forint (EUR 73m) railway intermodal combi terminal in Fényeslitke, near Hungary’s border with Ukraine, on Tuesday.

Addressing the ceremony, Szijjártó said

the terminal will play an “enormous role” in facilitating exports of Ukrainian grain to trade routes on the Adriatic.

The terminal’s transshipment capacity will reach about 800 tonnes of grain per hour, while annual capacity is set to reach 1 million containers, he said.

He noted that the largest and most modern railway intermodal combi terminal in Europe had been completed in record time and using digital solutions. It will allow fast and safe loading of four 740-metre-long trains at the same time, he added. About 500 people will work at the East-West Gate terminal, Szijjártó said.

A new dimension in freight transport – revitalising the logistics area

In the region, which until 1990 was a major transit region for freight and a major source of employment, freight traffic and transhipment, necessitated by the gauge change, has been reduced in recent decades. However, the privately built EWG was completed in just over a year and can handle significant freight traffic with state-of-the-art technology.

The terminal can handle up to one million twenty-foot containers (TEUs) per year, making it the largest such facility on the continent in terms of theoretical capacity and area. The terminal is capable of trans loading containers between wide gauge and standard gauge, as well as between rail 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 trans loading 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. At the inauguration ceremony, the first train carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods, an EWG-organised consignment, rolled into the terminal. A total of 1,146 tons of wheat, millet and green peas shipped by Ugrain Trade LLC arrive in 44 twenty-foot containers, and after transshipment, they are transported to the Csepel Free Port.