In November 2009 a small team of environmental experts, NGOs and journalist will board the Trans Siberian Express in Vladivostok. The group will stop at Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Novgorod and end their journey in Moscow 10 days later. Each stop will give the team the opportunity to meet the local environment authorities, experts and journalist, discover innovative railway technologies, and witness the impact of climate change on the Russian territories. From Moscow the team will join the “Climate Express” going to Copenhagen thereby bridging the East and the West via the Trans Siberian Railway one of the key international corridors linking Asia and Europe.
The trip is a key part of the Train to Copenhagen project. Linking Kyoto, where UIC together with the Japanese Railways will organize a Rail environmental seminar, to Copenhagen where the United Nations Climate Conference COP15 will take place. The symbolic journey from Kyoto to Copenhagen represents the passage to the next generation agreement on the future climate regime. The train journey will demonstrate how railways are acting in the spirit of the Kyoto protocol and actively reducing the emissions from the transportation sector.
RZD presented their ideas for involvement in the project to the UIC “Train to Copenhagen” team, represented by Michael Stevns, Senior Advisor, and Delphine Margot, Communications Advisor, which was warmly welcomed in Moscow by the International Relations department on Monday the 10th of August. RZD expressed their interest in the project and will organize the journey via the Trans-Siberian. RZD will provide a coach for the team. All along the journey, RZD will provide the technical support needed to enable the team to communicate their experiences via the Train to Copenhagen website www.traintocopenhagen.org. RZD is also organizing visits and events at all the stops and a press conference at the arrival in Moscow.
Finally, the Russian railways will be involved in all the communications actions, in cooperation with the UIC Communications department, not only regarding the promotion of the project but also for all the press activities in Russia during the journey between Vladivostok and Moscow.
