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- Mr. Popov, what was the purpose of establishing the Council and its executive body - the Council's Directorate?
- The decision to create the Council was made in an effort to ensure sustainable interstate economic relations and coordination of the railway transport of the former Soviet Union countries. At the time of its establishment the Council comprised the heads of the railway administrations of the CIS countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The Council's Directorate, in turn, became its executive body, ensuring the implementation of decisions of the new association.
The Directorate, together with the administrations, research and other organizations, drafts documents, decisions and recommendations. The normative acts it has developed regulate interaction and economic responsibility of the parties in international freight and passenger transportation (including transit with participation of third countries). Operational activities of the railways are coordinated on an on-going basis.
The dispatch facilities work around the clock - issues of train and other operations of all members of the Council are regularly discussed with the participation of railway administrations.
- What was the issue that the Council started its activities with?
- One of the tasks facing the Council at the time of its creation was the division of the fleet of freight cars and containers among the CIS countries. To this end, the heads of state signed an agreement on the division of the fleet of freight cars and containers of the former USSR Ministry of Railways.
At the same time the Council prepared an Agreement on the joint use of freight cars and containers owned by the CIS member states, which was signed by the heads of governments. It defines the technology of joint operation of rolling stock in interstate traffic providing for the proper maintenance of cars and containers and safety of trains. The Council coordinates railway transport operations at the interstate level.
- How has the focus of the Council's work changed over the years?
- Over the years, the range of issues that the Council deals with has significantly expanded. The composition of the total fleet of freight cars of railway administrations has changed: the private freight car fleet has increased, while the inventory fleet has decreased. A capacious regulatory base has been developed for the interaction of railway administrations in interstate traffic. Terms of freight delivery have been reduced and passenger service has improved. The infrastructure has been considerably developed and the work of border crossing points and junctions has been ameliorated. Much attention is paid to the commissioning of a new range of cars and other technical means. The system of transportation process management is being improved.
Informatization and electronic document flow have played a significant role in the development of rail transport in these years, which made it possible to switch to digitalization of the production processes. Much attention is paid to improving industrial and environmental safety on the railways.
A separate working body has been created for each area of activities - today there are nine commissions, six working and two expert groups, as well as the Project Office of the System of International Integration of Passenger Transportation "Express International" (established in June 2021).
- What are those directions and how are the responsibilities distributed among the Council's bodies?
- One of the first working bodies was the Railcar Fleet Commission, established in 1993. Its task is to consider the issues of ensuring the proper technical condition of freight cars and the formation of a unified technology for their maintenance and repair, as well as the renewal of the fleet.
April 1996 saw the establishment of the Commission of Railway Transport Informatization Experts, which is responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of automated control systems and work related to information support of the transportation process.
Much attention is paid to the organization of international passenger transportation, which is coordinated by the Passenger Facilities Commission. Regulatory documents are improved on an ongoing basis. The amendments are aimed at improvement of legal relations between passengers and carriers, enhancement of passenger services, improvement of carriage conditions, expansion of the range of benefits, perfecting the ticketing system, as well as the use of information technologies.
The Railway Transport Strategic Development Commission ensures the review of prospective directions of the industry's development. In November last year under its direct coordination the Concept of Strategic Development of Railway Transport in the "1520 Area" up to 2030 was drawn up and approved by the Council of the Heads of Government of the CIS countries.
The main task of the Railway Traffic Safety Commission is to formulate a unified policy of ensuring safety in the international railway traffic. Its meetings produce recommendations on the application of new systems and devices on the rolling stock and infrastructure.
Each working body of the Council has a large number of professional tasks, which solutions affects the efficiency of railway transport in interstate traffic and international transit services.
- Does the Council have any bodies that coordinate social issues of the administrations?
- Yes, for example, the Commission for Interaction of Railway Administrations in Healthcare.
The purpose of the Commission is methodological regulation and organization of comprehensive interaction of railway administrations on the issues of medical and psychological (psychophysiological) support of traffic safety and train operations, development of the health protection system and psychological support of the professional activity of railway workers, introduction of achievements of medical science, technology and pharmacy to preserve and restore the health and professional fitness of railway workers, ensuring sanitary, hygienic and epidemic safety of interstate passenger and cargo transportation, sanitary control over the transportation of dangerous goods.
- What questions couldn't be solved without the Council's work?
- Thanks to the Council's activity it has become possible to maintain the technological unity of the 1520mm gauge railway network. It is based on the unified schedule of trains, the plan of formation of freight trains, the procedure for car flow direction and the plan of formation of cars with containers in international traffic, which are approved annually at the Council meetings. Coordinated development of the infrastructure of border crossings and junction points is ensured, and the tariff policy is improved.
- How is the general term "technological unity" implemented in practice?
- The Council uses an automated system of monthly planning of international freight transportation to form a network consolidated plan of loading and technical norms of operations. There is centralized mutual accounting between the railway administrations for the transportation and services in international traffic - annually the Council's Directorate together with the administrations analyzes and calculates the rates of payment for the use of cars of the inventory fleet.
The Information and Computer Center of Railway Administrations operates successfully. Its work is aimed at information support of railway transport in interstate traffic, organization of joint use and technical maintenance of freight and passenger cars and containers, as well as of freight car components.
Special attention should be paid to the "Express" interstate automated control system. Its operation ensures the preservation of the single information space and the production activities of the main business processes of passenger services.
I should emphasize that the tasks I have mentioned need to be solved comprehensively, necessarily by uniting the efforts of all railway administrations within the framework of the Railway Transport Council.
- Does the Council interact with non-member administrations or international organizations?
- I would like to note that over 30 years the Council's membership has expanded. Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Iran, Latvia and Finland have joined the Council as associate members, while Lithuania and Estonia have joined it on the basis of separate agreements.
The International Confederation of Railway Workers' Unions is an observer to the Council, and representatives of the CIS Executive Committee, the Organization for Cooperation between Railways and the International Union of Railways participate in the meetings as guests. In order to expand transport links with a number of railways on the Eurasian continent, possible cooperation with the railway administrations of Mongolia and Turkey, whose representatives have already participated in the Council meeting in 2019, as well as Afghanistan, is under consideration.
- What measures did the Council take during the pandemic?
- The COVID -19 pandemic restrictions between 2020 and 2021 were a test of strength. The harsh working conditions made it necessary to switch to a new format of communication and ensure prompt resolution of issues to introduce a remote form of meetings - for this purpose the Technological Communication System was created. Some 200 meetings were organized in the period from the first half of 2020 to the first quarter of 2022 using this System. Meetings of the permanent working bodies of the Council and meetings of experts of the Railway Transport Council were held remotely.
- The COVID-19 pandemic caused the suspension of international passenger service. How did the work proceed to bring the traffic back?
- The Council's Directorate has developed a plan of recommended comprehensive measures for the organization of international railway passenger transportation during the transition period when epidemiological danger is reduced. Interaction was organized between the railway administrations and the authorized bodies of the states on the conditions and timeframe for the resumption of international passenger services.
Today, due to the positive epidemiological situation, restrictive measures to ensure safety from coronavirus infection are gradually being lifted and international passenger traffic is being restored on a step-by-step basis; the experience gained will be used in the future.
First of all, communication between Belarus and Russia, as well as Armenia and Georgia, was resumed. Starting from June this year Russia resumed connections with Kazakhstan, Kirghizia and Tajikistan, as well as between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (read more about it in the 1520international materials), and sales of travel documents for Russian Railways’ trains in transit through Kazakhstan via Petropavlovsk and Bulaevo stations have been opened. Other activities are also underway.
- Does the organization have any new tasks now?
- One of the most important activities of the Council is the development and further improvement of the regulatory framework (updating the existing and development of new legal acts).
Particular attention in these issues will be paid to the digital transformation of production processes: in the carriage of passengers and goods; the operations of interstate junction points; coordination of work of railway and regulatory authorities at border crossings. At the same time, their interaction should be based on electronic document flow and the application of the "one-stop-shop" principle.
We believe that the development of digitalization on the railway transport will lead to optimization of train traffic organization technologies and implementation of new technical means in order to effectively use rolling stock and meet the demand of railway transport service users.
- Are there any projects that you plan to implement in the near future?
- To improve the system of accounting and control over freight cars, an automated system of keeping freight car log-books is being developed. This solution is meant to exclude the use of cars not complying with the requirements of the design documentation or technical operation rules and to prevent the use of counterfeited or falsified parts in the equipment of the cars on the main lines of the CIS countries.
Much attention, as before, will be paid to the improvement of international passenger traffic through the expansion of the range of services and enhancement of their quality, both en route and at the stations, as well as the increase of the route speeds of international passenger and freight trains.
The production and introduction of modern rolling stock, including for rapid-transit and high-speed traffic, remains an important issue.
Interviewed by Anna Yakusheva
13 October 2022
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