From 28 – 30 October 2014, the OSJD (Organisation for Cooperation between Railways) organised the annual conference of the 4th Commission in Warsaw: OSJD Commission on Passenger Traffic.
This commission was chaired by Mr Viktor Koshanov, chairman of the OSJD Commission on Passenger Traffic.
The following main points were discussed:
- Adaptation of timetables for passenger trains which run between OSJD state members
- Seat reservation system, information services to passengers, service delivery and settlement of transport
- Improvement of the International Railway Passenger Tariff ( MPT ), amendment to MPT
- Improvement of rules for use of coaches and amendment of the rules of the use of passenger cars in international traffic (OPV)
- Schedule performance of international passenger trains on border crossings in 2014 and the measures taken to implement it
- Approval of the draft report on “The results of the OSJD Commission on Passenger Traffic for 2014”
- Consideration and approval of draft Work Plan OSJD Commission on Passenger Transport in 2015 and the Programme of Work for 2016 and subsequent years in the field of passenger transport
Mr Marc Guigon (UIC) presented the MERITS-PRIFIS UIC tools which facilitate the establishment of the European wide timetable and tariff files that support the individual operator’s journey planner. This tool can solve some points which were highlighted within this meeting where there are some problems of transmission of timetables, fares and tariffs between the railway undertakings. He thanked RZD-FPC (Russian Railways), BC (Belarusian Railways) and UZ (Ukrainian Railways) for becoming members of MERITS-PRIFIS.
Marc Guigon invited OSJD railway undertakings that are not yet MERITS-PRIFIS members to join the community (Kazakhstan, Iran, China…).
Concerning the programme of the 4th Commission of OSJD for 2015, Mr Marc Guigon proposed that members of the Passenger Commission work with UIC on the following points:
- UIC technical group on “Universal Rail Ticket” (URT)
- The PASSAGE project for accessibility
- Participation in the working group on stations (SMGG) and on signage
- Participation in the international conference on railway stations which will be held in Marrakech from 21-22 October 2015 (Next Station 2015)
- Participation in the UIC work group on commuter and regional traffic
- Participation in some working groups on High Speed and Intercity trains
- TOPRAIL, a project for tourism potential
Finally, Mr Marc Guigon proposed that UIC and OSJD could regularly organise common workshops on rail passenger activities.
