Mr. Arkady Petrov, Deputy Head of International Relations Department at October Railway (part of Russian Railways RZD which operates railway traffic in the Saint-Petersburg region) paid a visit to UIC headquarters on 9th September. He met at UIC HQ with (?) Vincent Vu, Director of Institutional Relations, Paul Véron, Director of Communications, Brian Bock, World Senior Advisor and Margrethe Sagevik, Senior Advisor Sustainable Development and Climate Change.

This visit provided an opportunity to present to Arkady Petrov the mission and organisation of UIC –resulting from the approval of new statutes in March 2009- and to have an exchange with the UIC representatives on a series of important issues: passenger traffic (in particular high speed rail) and freight issues, technology and rolling stock, interoperability, gauge difference between members, UIC activities aiming to promote rail transport as the most sustainable transport solution, etc. In this respect, the “Train to Copenhagen” campaign coordinated by UIC together with its members prior to the United Nations Climate Change conference to be held in Denmark in December, will involve Russian railways with the circulation of a special ‘”Train to Copenhagen” and Mr. Petrov was very interested by the presentation of this project. Later on the day, Mr. Petrov had the opportunity to visit high speed trains facilities, in order to benchmark with the help of UIC how to operate and maintain high speed trainsets, in the perspective of the future high speed line between Moscow and Saint Petersburg.