Rusagrotrans, Russia's largest rail cargo operator of grain deliveries, and Kaztemirtrans of Kazakhstan signed an agreement on Wednesday forming a joint venture to distribute grains, Bloomberg reported.
The joint venture will handle between 8 million to 9 million metric tons a year, Rusagrotrans Deputy Chief Executive Officer Oleg Rogachev said by phone today from Sochi, in southern Russia. The capital will exceed $90 million in rail cars and cash shared equally between the partners, according to Kaztemirtrans spokeswoman Zhanna Perzadayeva and Rogachev. It will have about 10,000 railcars, they said.
Rusagrotrans is the grain unit of railroad monopoly OAO Russian Railways. Kaztemirtrans is owned by Kazakhstan's state- owned railroad company.