A representative from Lithuania presented information about work conducted by ERA-OSJD and further plans.
ERA was founded in 2004. Since ERA is only a technical expert of EC it does not have the right to approve any documents – all rights are under the European Commission’s responsibility.
In 2007 the first memorandum was signed between OSJD and ERA – no politics, only technical issues.
The ERA-OSJD Contact group developed the first document: subsystem Infrastructure, second document: Energy. On the basis of these documents the open points of TSIs were closed and since January 2015 are approved for application. The third document: CCS, fifth document: Passenger coaches. Seventh document: Operational management.
Since 2014 the fourth document – Freight wagons is under development. It is intended to be the basis for inclusion of 1520 rail system into TSI Freight wagons. The ERA-OSJD memorandum was signed in January 2015 for future ERA-OSJD work for 2015 – 2019.
The first Commission Chairman Kamaldin Mamarahimov thanked all the participants of this group and especially Russia for the work carried out.
Studying the strategic development experience of OSJD country members
1 Representative from Belorussian Railway reported about the results achieved in 2014: 100 million passengers transferred, 140 million tonnes of cargo delivered. But there are some problems with the customers due to the difficult global situation. BR is currently undergoing reforms. The number of employees has decreased over the last four years to 25,000 people (20%) and this trend will continue. But people are not fired – they transferred to subsidiaries or other divisions which are no longer part of BR. Cargo transit has decreased but shipment has increased.
UZ: We are very interested in your strategic plans to synchronise our plans of development in one direction with yours. Then we are interested in your experience of allocation of non-core assets and allocation of the medical institutions.
BR: This is a complex question – for one category of people this is good for another – not so.
2 Lithuania presented plans and achievements on the RAIL BALTICA project and construction of double-tracks (85% financing by state, 15% by the company).
3 Latvia: the number of employees has decreased by 30% with the allocation of non-core assets and institutions.
4 UZ: Overview presentation and presentation about reforms
Studying the experience and analysis of the reforms on railway transport of OSJD country members with publishing the information
Where should we publish our analysis?
Decision: Better to publish it on OSJD website due to the current reform changes in different companies; it is not useful to print it now.
Miscellanea
UIC representatives gave two presentations about UIC’s role in intercontinental freight corridors (Miklos Kopp) and UIC Standardisation and IRS (Oleg Nikolaev). The item on Standardisation was presented at the request of UZ.
After both presentations we had a discussion with OSJD members. Asian members in particular were interested in the definition and application scope of some types of documents such as TSIs in Europe, ISO, CEN/CENELEC and GOST standards in different areas and asked about the future role of IRSs of UIC.
Other OSJD members were interested in participating in this work (until now four OSJD members have been in the group: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia), but they need to consult with their management and then they will inform the UIC Standardisation Team about their decision.
After clarifying some unclear issues and questions it may be possible for others as well to join the group.
Work plan for 2016
Participants reviewed and agreed on the work plan for 2016. The final annual meeting of the first OSJD Commission is scheduled to be held from 6 – 9 October 2015.