OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2014. The 19th Moscow International Exhibition and Conference on Transport and Logistics "TransRussia" opened in Moscow. The opening was attended by Vadim Morozov, Vice -President of Russian Railways.

In his address to the conference, Vadim Morozov noted that in a globalising economy and ongoing integration processes, such as EU enlargement and the functioning of the Common Economic Space of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the national transport system's role increases significantly. Given the growing competition, the provision of integrated transport and logistics services is a priority.

According to Morozov, activities of companies which are part of the Russian Railways' holding have been tasks with finding solutions in this area, in particular GEFCO, the Federal Freight Company, TransContainer and RZD Logistics, as well as the branches of Russian Railways operating in the management of the terminal and warehouse complex.

Large Russian shippers such as Evraz, Mechel, SDS, Siberian Anthracite and others are already using straight-through services provided by the Russian Railways' holding for transporting their goods. These services include: transshipment and freight forwarding at ports, sea freight and shipping on Russian and foreign railways.

According to Vadim Morozov, cooperation in the provision of such services can provide benefits to all participants in the transport process.

Particular attention should be paid to the quality of basic services provided and to bring them up to international standards. In 2013 alone, Russian Railways achieved an increase of nearly 6% in the reliability of freight deliveries and improved average train speeds and its adherence to the timetable.

Vadim Morozov also stressed that in order to achieve a balanced development, it was necessary to ensure comparable levels in the through and handling capacity of the infrastructure for each mode of transport.

In addition, in order to eliminate bottlenecks on the railway network, Russian Railways needed to implement to the full mechanisms to establish long-term tariffs, as well as a network contract for the development of railway infrastructure.