In accordance with the decision of the UIC Asian Regional Assembly a Seminar “Usage of Freight Wagons in International Transport” was held on October 27-28, 2009 in Sochi, Russian Federation.

The Seminar was attended by representatives of international organizations –UIC, Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD), International Rail Transport Committee (CIT), European Railway Agency (ERA), CEO’s and experts of railway companies, infrastructure managers, railway operators, railway industry and research centers from Finland, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, South Korea, and Ukraine.

The programme of the two-day meeting was structured into three sections: legal base, technical specifications for 1435 and 1520 mm systems, and interoperability technologies. The event provided a unique opportunity for exchange of experience between different stakeholders in the field of wagon usage in international transport, tackling both the actual state of the art and the prospects for creation of wagons of a new generation to be used in cross-border operation in Asian region.

Final declaration, adopted unanimously by the participants at the end of the Seminar, emphasised the need to continue joint work in this direction in order to strengthen cooperation of railway companies and international organizations, exchange experience on all aspects of railway transport including creation of new rolling stock, harmonize legal base regulating the usage of freight wagons in international transport, work out common economic approaches on usage of wagon fleet and on coding of rolling stock, seek creation of unified requirements to infrastructure and optimization of border crossing procedures in railway transport.