Due to the stricter sanitary and epidemiological requirements on the part of the supervisory authorities of the PRC, delays of freight trains are observed at the Russian-Chinese border. The inspection time for each train has almost doubled; because of this, the number of trains traveling from Russia for export fell by more than 30%.
To the greatest extent, the new rules affected the trains carrying timber and coal. However, due to their accumulation on the tracks near border crossings, other cargoes also experience difficulties crossing the border.
In general, today, 70 freight trains are waiting for their turn to cross the border, 20 of which are container trains.
