With a total surface of 37 million square km and a population of 2 billion, the Organization for Cooperation of Railways (OSJD) and its member states hold an operating network of 281,000 km, structured on 13 Corridors which need investments for providing an efficient and safe transport. According to OSJD, the project financing requires EU support as the necessary financing volumes exceed the organisation’s resources.
Although the railway transport activity in OSJD countries was confronted with difficult situations because of the current economic downturn and production recorded significant drops in most countries, railway transport continues to rank first compared to the other means of transport. In this context, the initiation of projects on international transport development are carried out on the Eurasian axis, as well as the improvement of the legal conditions to permit the optimisation of the railway service efficiency, which helps generating the competitiveness growth.
In the past years, OSJD countries have developed essential projects for transforming and upgrading the infrastructure in view of an integration in the international transport market. The programme on “Modernisation of railway transport in the European and Asian countries” was finalized through the implementation of modernisation projects of main corridors and the development of construction works for new lines which facilitate traffic. In 2009, 4 billion passengers and 5.6 billion tonnes of freight were shipped on the OSJD network.
According to the organisation’s report, in 2009, the Chinese Railways built 5,481 km of new lines and doubled 4,063 km of railways and electrified 8,448 km of line. Russia launched 51.2 km of line on the route Jaive – Solinamm (Sverdlovsk Railway) and doubled 82.7 km of line. High-speed lines Moscow-Nizhni Novgorod and St. Petersburg – Buslovskaya entered operation and the time travel between St. Petersburg and Helsinki was reduced from around 6 h to 3 hours. For the freight traffic, Russian Railways approved the Programme for the Development of Container Traffic by 2015 and its implementation launched on the market the route called “Trans-Siberian in 7 days”.
Also, Belarus has managed to increase its investment rate by 108% purchasing 450 freight cars, 4 diesel locomotives and 53 passenger coaches.
Kazakhstan Railways has finalized the line Zhetyguen – Korgas (293.4 km) which provides direct transport to China and thus becomes the second border crossing point between the two countries. Moreover, the construction of a 146-km section (Uzen-Turkmenistan border) permits a direct traffic between Kazakhstan and Iran.
Step-by-step railway projects were carried out in these countries and the traffic speed of railway vehicles increased thus reducing travel times and delivering efficient transport services in the OSJD area.
Present at the “Railway Days” 2011 Summit, Anzor Glonti, Specialist – Commission on Transport Policy and Development Strategy – OSJD, stressed the fact that projects concerning the modernisation and rehabilitation of the OSJD network need financing, as project implementation has been carried out from own funds until then. “OSJD’s railway network covers both Asian and European countries. Transport routes linking Asia to Europe require investments, although OSJD has granted massive investments to modernisation projects. We are thus calling on the EU to involve in these projects so that we could jointly succeed in building a performing infrastructure that would provide single and efficient transport”, said the OSJD representative.
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