OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2008. In the five years since Russian Railways was founded, the Company has carried out extensive work to integrate the Russian railway network into the global transportation system, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

The focus of this work has been developing cooperation with the rail authorities of Russia’s immediate neighbors, the CIS and Baltic countries.

In the last five years, there have been twelve meetings of the Council for Rail Transport of CIS States (CRT CIS) and 55 agreements and contracts signed with the railways of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Since 2006, the annual international business forum “Strategic Partnership 1520” for countries using broad-gauge track as opposed to the narrower European gauge has strengthened ties and continues to facilitate closer cooperation, while a variety of regional forums enables Russian Railways to work closely with the railways of CIS and Baltic countries. Regional forums have already been held in Almaty and in Riga.

In October 2007, the First Railway Congress was held in Moscow and was attended by railway authorities and leading engineering companies not only from CIS and Baltic States, but also from Europe and Asia.

One significant outcome of the work to promote cooperation with the rail authorities of the CIS and Baltic countries was the success of Russian Railways in winning the tender for the concessionary management of Armenian Railways. The results of the tender were announced in early 2008, and South Caucasus Railways, a regional division of Russian Railways, duly began its work in Armenia on 1 July 2008.

One of the Company’s priorities internationally is to achieve active integration into the European transport system. Considerable progress in this direction has been made in the last five years, with several joint ventures set up to achieve effective cooperation in shipping.

On 18 June 2007, a declaration was signed in Moscow to establish a joint venture, Eurasia Rail Logistics (ERL), with the participation of railway companies from Russia, Germany, Poland and Belarus. Oy ContainerTrans Scandinavia, a joint venture between Carriers and VR Cargo, was also set up in 2007. In March 2008, Trans-Eurasia Logistics GmbH was established, a logistics company owned by Russian Railways (30%), TransContainer (20%), DB Mobility Logistics (30%), Kombiverkehr (10 %) and Polzug (10%).

In recent years, Russian Railways has also been actively developing and expanding its cooperation on technology with leading foreign companies. Russian Railways and Siemens AG signed a strategic Memorandum of Cooperation on 25 Nov, 2005, under which a contract was awarded to design, manufacture and supply the high-speed Velaro RUS electric train, as well as a service contract for 30 years.

In September 2007, the Russian-Finnish enterprise Oy Karelian Trans Ltd. and Alstom signed a contract for the supply of the high-speed Pendolino Sm6 train, which will run on the St. Petersburg-Helsinki route.

On 14 March, 2007, Russian Railways signed a cooperation agreement with the Italian corporation Finmeccanica to carry out the joint development and manufacture of electric trains capable of speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour, the use of satellite technology in rail transport and other areas.

Significant progress has also been made with regard to international transport, especially on the priority area of developing container transport.

In 2004, the following container train services began: Project-2K, Dostyk - Europe, the Baltic Transit, Narvik – Dostyk.

In 2005, the following container train services began: Mercury (Kaliningrad / Klaipeda - Moscow), Northern Lights (Finland - Moscow, Finland), East Wind (Berlin - Warsaw - Minsk - Moscow) and the Mongolian Vector (China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany) within the UNESCAP.

On 9 January 2008, the first demonstration container train ran between Beijing and Hamburg, with the participation of railways in China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany.

In recent years, Russian Railways has also increased its cooperation with Japanese shippers, with major companies such as Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), Sony, Mitsubishi, the Mitsui Trading House and the Nissin freight forwarding company showing interest in freight traffic on the Trans-Siberian. Since 2006, several pilot shipments for Toyota Motors have been organized, with regular cargoes planned for 2009.

In order to create the right conditions to attract additional cargo to the routes on the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC) corridor, a railway line was built in 2003-2004 which completed the North-South ITC on Russian territory by linking the port of Olya on the Caspian Sea with Russia’s main rail network. In 2007, a rail-ferry service began on the Baltiysk - Sassnitz - Mukran route.

In recent years, Russian Railways has also been cooperating with countries in the Middle East and Africa and has begun a number of major infrastructural projects in Iran, Algeria and Libya.

In Iran, the Tabriz - Azarshahr line will be electrified in accordance with a contract signed in March 2008. A Memorandum of Understanding between Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan was signed regarding the construction of the Qazvin - Rasht - Astara railway line, which entails the further development of cooperation between the three countries within the framework of the North-South Corridor.

In February 2008, Russian Railways won the tender for the project to improve suburban rail transport in Algeria, with provision for the construction of a new railway line to the Houari Boumediene International Airport.

On 17 April 2008, Russian Railways and Libya’s Office for the Implementation of Railway Projects signed a contract for the construction of a 554-km railway line between Sirte and Benghazi.

The project to rehabilitate the Trans-Korean Main Line also offers considerable potential for increased transit traffic. In June 2008, a joint venture was set up in North Korea, with Russian Railways owning 70% and the port of Rajin the remaining 30%. The jv will complete the pilot project to reconstruct the line between Hassan and Rajin and the construction of the port of Rajin container terminal, as well as the subsequent operation of the infrastructure for transit traffic and with access to the Company’s rail network. Work began on the project on 4 October 2008.

The Company attaches great importance to the development of international passenger traffic. In recent years, the number of trains has been increased so that Russian Railways now operates services to 19 countries in Europe and Asia. The Company’s trains and direct coaches operate on 56 international routes.

Since 2007, Russian Railways has been the only railway administration which enjoys full membership in both the European and Asian regional assemblies of the International Union of Railways, which helps the Company to make a notable contribution to the international transport space while at the same time taking into account the interests of Russian Railways.