International logistics operator Treeden Group has launched the first stage of a cargo railway terminal in the Polish village of Wola Baranowska, located almost 200 km deep in Poland with access roads and broad gauge from Ukraine, Director of UAB Friendly Avia Support Oleksandr Lanetsky has said.

"This allows us to connect the Ukrainian railway system with Western European and Polish/German/Baltic ports," he wrote on Facebook.

According to him, the terminal will be able to simultaneously handle three trains for unloading/loading, and the automated unloading and loading system will speed up operations by three to five times compared to simple sites nearby.

The terminal is equipped with five silos of 4,000 tonnes each, an automated flat warehouse of 4,500 square meters, including for bulk cargo, and a terminal cargo for storing sea containers.

Lanetsky said that the terminal will operate as a customs warehouse and will be able to accept grain, building materials, fertilizers and other cargo.

According to the project plan published on the European Commission website, the total costs of constructing the terminal are estimated at PLN 32.9 million (EUR 7.6 million) at the exchange rate for October 2017 (PLN 4.3122/EUR1).

The project started in 2016, while it took five years for approval from the Polish State Railway and another year for formal approval of the project and obtaining a construction permit. The construction itself took less than 10 months.