The International Railway Business Forum “Strategic Partnership 1520: Central Europe” started its work in Vienna.
The event was opened by the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maksim Sokolov and the Vice Minister for Transport, Innovations and Technologies of the Austrian Republic Gerhard Gürtlich.
In his welcoming speech Sokolov noted that despite the fact that rail transport was experiencing fierce competition from other modes of transport, the role of the modern economy in the Eurasian continent cannot be overestimated.
“The HSR project “Eurasia” which will be widely discussed during the forum, will be a breakthrough for high-speed freight transportation between Europe and Asia," he stressed.
After the forum opening, there was a plenary discussion “Eurasian Corridor and the New Silk Road. Towards each other" where participants discussed the possibility of improving the speed and quality of railway transit traffic on the East-West route.
The discussion was attended by the Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, General Director-Chairman of the Board JSC "RZD" Oleg Belozerov, General Director of ÖBB-Holding AG Andreas Matte, Chairman of the Russian Part of the Russian-Austrian Business Council Vladimir Artyakov, General Director of ZSSK Cargo Martin Vozar, Head of the Belarusian Railways Vladimir Morozov, the Vice-President for Promotion of International Activities of the Italian Railways Giovanni Rocca and Head of the Department for Rail Safety and Interoperability of the European Commission Keir Fitch, General Dicrector of VTB Capital Alexey Yakovitsky.
According to the Transport Minister of the Russian Federation, the cargo turnover between the Eurasian countries will constantly increase. "This is especially seen in the turnover of container cargoes. Transportation of transit cargoes via the Russian railways for the last two years has increased by more than 60%. At the same time, the container transit from East to West has grown by more than 13 times during the past five years. This speaks about good and even confident and optimistic prospects for the development of transportation using iron wheel-rail technology throughout the Eurasian continent. Therefore, it is important to implement the project for prolongation of the 1520 track to connect to the European railway network. The solution of this problem will contribute to the development of the Euro-Asian Transportation,” he said.
“Implementation of global logistics projects is the key to successful economic development,” the General Director -Chairman of the Board of JSC "RZD" Oleg Belozerov said in his speech. "The initiative to create the New Silk Road, a corridor for transportation of goods from Asia to the EU, is extremely important. The geography of this initiative is impressive: almost 70% of the world's population will be touched by the gravity of the implementation of this project; it is about 60% of the world's gross product,” he stressed.
“Eurasia HSR should unite the Euro Kareks system and the Chinese HSR network, and after that we will be able to create an absolutely new high-speed model of traffic on the Eurasian continent, " Oleg Belozerov concluded.
As for the interests of investors to implement these projects this subject was highlighted by the General Director of VTB Capital Alexey Yakovitsky. In his opinion, the trade turnover on Eurasia HSR will exceed all expectations.
"We are interested in implementing such large projects as HSR "Eurasia" in general, and the Moscow-Kazan HSR in particular. Well-structured, large-scale investment projects can attract large foreign investors," he concluded.Source: http://www.hsrail.ru/
