Skip to content
A silo filled with corn at the Port of Constanta in Romania, on May 7. 

A silo filled with corn at the Port of Constanta in Romania, on May 7. 

Photographer: Andrei Pungovschi/Bloomberg
Politics
Food Crisis

The Race Against Food Inflation Starts on Rusty Soviet Railway Lines

With ports blocked by Russia, getting grain out of Ukraine is a critical mission that’s forcing governments and companies to scour the map for new routes. 

Overgrown with vegetation, the rusted rail tracks running between Reni in Ukraine’s southwest corner to the port of Galati in Romania had been consigned to Soviet-era history long ago. About a quarter of the 20-kilometer (12-mile) line is missing.  

Yet like other relics of the old Eastern Bloc network, the route along the Danube River could eventually play a small part in an increasingly large and complex operation to secure vital food shipments.