Think Railways

The heads of railway administrations in the CIS countries signed the final report of the 60th meeting of the Council on Rail Transport in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on 7 May 2014.

"We agreed a common position on all questions, including extremely complex topics with regard to joint decision-making, such as traffic safety issues and financial calculations and settlements for using rolling stock, as well as issues related to the different pace of reform of rail transport in the various countries," said Vladimir Yakunin, Chairman of the Council of the Board and President of OAO Russian Railways.

Yakunin added that during the meeting, Seyed Pur Agai, the Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and the President of Railways in the Islamic Republic of Iran, requested the inclusion of Iran's railway administration as an associate member of the Council.

The 60th session of the Council on Rail Transport approved the passenger train timetable for 2014/2015, during the development of which the actual frequency of passenger trains and seat occupancy were taken into account and ​​the necessary adjustments in the number of routes made.

During the development of the timetable, particular attention was also paid to increasing the speed of trains en route, the use of the train formations and improving the use of through capacity, as well as making departure times from railheads and train turnarounds more convenient for passengers.

According to the new timetable, 237 pairs of international passenger trains have been agreed, including 92 pairs of trains served and operated by Russia's railways.

Also approved was a plan for the formation of freight trains in international traffic, the direction of traffic flows and the number of freight trains and their weight and length at interstate division points. It also includes 324 timetables of international freight trains.

When determining the volume of the freight flows, the increase or decrease in the volume of freight transport was taken into account, as well as volume of freight trains which actually occurred.

In addition, the Council agreed a plan for the formation of wagons with containers in international traffic and a list of international container, piggyback container and faster freight trains during 2014/2015.

New timetable and train formation plan will be come into effect at 0 hours 00 minutes Moscow time on 1 June 2014.

The next meeting of the Council for Rail Transport of the CIS will be held in Azerbaijan's capital Baku in autumn 2014.

CIS Rail Transport Council include as permanent members the railway administrations of Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Georgia, Latvia, Bulgaria and Finland are associate members of the CIS council, while Lithuania and Estonia participate at the meetings based on special agreements.