Belarus and Russia aim to speed up freight customs checks
BELARUSSIAN Railways (BC), in partnership with Russian Railways (RZD), has launched a pilot project to trial paperless processing of some cross-border railfreight services between the two countries.
Jan 29, 2013
BC’s Data Protection Centre developed the digital transport system for the trial which coordinates digital data from the legal shipment documents with analytical software based on the United Nations Edifact standardised electronic data exchange mechanism.
The pilot follows a test programme in Belarus in 2011–2012 when digitally signed documents were successfully used for internal railfreight transport and some export shipments.
BC reported that the programme significantly improved the quality of applications by reducing process and approval times. If the latest trial is a success it could be a significant step in reducing the impact of crossing borders which extends transit times and increases the costs of transporting freight by rail from Asia to Europe.
The pilot follows a test programme in Belarus in 2011–2012 when digitally signed documents were successfully used for internal railfreight transport and some export shipments.
BC reported that the programme significantly improved the quality of applications by reducing process and approval times. If the latest trial is a success it could be a significant step in reducing the impact of crossing borders which extends transit times and increases the costs of transporting freight by rail from Asia to Europe.