Spain has launched a pilot project to import grain from Ukraine by rail to explore the possibility of using vehicles if sea routes are closed or prohibited due to war.

The Spanish Ministry of Transport said in a statement that the Renfe freight train, consisting of 25 containers 12 meters long, left Madrid on Tuesday evening as part of a Spanish project and headed to the Polish city of Chełm near the Ukrainian border. He will travel 2,400 kilometers to Guelm, where he will collect 600 tons of grain, and will return to Barcelona in early September.

She pointed out that “this is a pilot project to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of transporting grain on a rail network that crosses Europe from Łódź in Poland to Barcelona”, noting that the new project will also help “know the scale of road transport capacity.” to support the seas.

The Russian-Ukrainian war in late February led to the suspension of Ukrainian grain exports, which led to the detention of up to 25 million tons of wheat and other grains in the ports of Kyiv on the Black Sea. It also pushed up food prices around the world and raised fears of famine.