Global Partnership
12.07.2010 (12:37)
In recent years, Russian Railways has been following a tendency to strengthen cooperation with the International Union of Railways (UIC). We asked Alexey Averin, Head of RZD’s International Relations Department and Co-Director of the Global Rail Freight Conference, to tell us more about it.
- Alexey Alexandrovich, RZD is working closely with the UIC. What is the essence of this partnership? And what role belongs to the 2nd Global Rail Freight Conference, which was recently held in St Petersburg?
- Our company pays special attention to cooperating with UIC, because it is the only international non-governmental organisation in the railway sector in terms of representation and broad geographical coverage of its members. Almost all of the world's largest railways from six continents have full membership - Japanese, Chinese, Indian, German, Russian, Finnish, French, Polish, Spanish, Canadian, South African and many others, as well as worldwide railway manufacturers of rolling stock and equipment, and also scientific and research institutes.
Our Global Rail Freight Conference is taking place under the auspices of and with the direct participation of UIC. One of the advantages of UIC events and forums is that there are regular meetings between the heads of national railways from all over the world, with open dialogues held on topical issues concerning the development of railway links.
Let me remind you that Russian Railways (previously: USSR Railways) is in the list of UIC founders. However, the participation of USSR in the UIC was terminated because of the Second World War.
Russian Railways’ full membership in UIC became necessary again at the beginning of the 21st century when RZD entered new markets, started participating in large international investment projects, when relationships with railway companies from other countries had to be developed.
It cannot go another way, because Russia is a kind of turning circle for Euro-Asian freight and passenger railway traffic, where trains come from all directions in order to continue their movement in all directions.
As part of UIC membership, RZD is involved in those strategic projects and UIC programs, which provide a basis for the systematic integration of the railway networks of different standards. Also, it represents and promotes the “Area 1520” interests, fully supports the development of cooperation between OSJD and UIC, which is an effective form of multilateral cooperation between the railways of the East and the West.
- What are the RZD's primary priorities for cooperation?
- First of all, the development of international transport corridors; interoperability of infrastructure and rolling stock between railways of different standards; unification of cargo classification, coding and software; new IT and satellite systems and a global rail cargo tracking system. Well, and of course, close cooperation also concerns the safety and ecological issues of railway transport.
RZD's participation in UIC is focused on achieving practical results that can be used in the company, including within the framework of its international cooperation.
- What impact did the global economic crisis have on your cooperation and the sector as a whole?
- Indeed, this conference took place during the global economic crisis, which could not but affect the work of the whole transport system. Industrial enterprises are avoiding financial risks and therefore are forced to cut their production and reduce cargo traffic. So, it is not surprising that freight figures have fallen considerably. This affected revenues and the general financial position of the railway sector.
At the same time, railway transport is a backbone sector, and we and our colleagues share the opinion that the development of transport infrastructure can push us out of the crisis. At the same time, overcoming the crisis should have a systematic character, which means that it is necessary first of all to consider the state support to infrastructure projects. It is clear that maintaining the railway transport position and surviving competition in the current circumstances will only be possible due to consolidated action and collaborative effort. This is the main point which now unites us all.
Interviewed by Andrey Lazarev
Print version
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