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MIR Initiative Chairman of the Steering Committee presents MIR Initiative White Book METRO of the METR at the round table on Strategic Planning “Rail Transport 2050: A Close Look into a Perfect Tomorrow” at the international 1520 Strategic Partnership Forum in Sochi, Russia.

[SOCHI] The Rail community gathered from June 3 to 6, 2015 for the tenth anniversary of the 1520 Strategic Partnership Forum (http://forum1520.com) in Sochi, Russia. More than 1200 participants from 32 nations participated this year in the Forum. The Strategic Partnership 1520 (SP1520) is a bespoke international forum dealing with rail issues and is the largest business meeting of all major stakeholders across the wide gauge area. The SP1520 is about fostering a joined-up approach to the development of rail sector across 1520 to make sure it is on the leading edge of freight and passenger transportation in the world over. The forum aims to reach systemic solutions for the most important operating issues in the rail complex: optimization of transport process, modernization of transport infrastructure, attracting investment, and the production of modern rolling stock. This year the SP1520 welcomed around 1200 specialists from 32 countries. The audience is made up of leading transport companies from Russia, the CIS and the European Union: national rail carriers, rolling stock operators, producers of rail technology, logistics, leasing, insurance and freight forwarding companies. The international industry was broadly present with management representatives from leading companies as Siemens AG, Alstom Transport, Transmashhholding, Chines Railway companies, Bombardier Transportation.

One of the key discussions was concentrating on the long term Railway strategic development. In a workshop on optimism the topic of Rail Transport 2050: A Close Look into a Perfect Tomorrow was discussed in the round table. The strategic discussion was touching the aspects of transport   infrastructure several decades from now, the passenger transportation and the high speed network, the operator’s model, the competition and synergy between different modes of transport and the transport corridors and the logistics business. Strategic planning is at the core of any business. As strategic guidelines contribute to a clearer path towards a target, railway transport evolves according to its Development Strategy for 2030. However, isn’t it intriguing to take a look beyond this horizon – let’s say for another 20 or even 30 years? The workshop will ask best strategists about how an ideal future might look like, with a focus on infrastructure, transport services and global corridors. The discussion will also welcome the independent directors of the SP1520 so they could listen to deliberations and then share their thoughts and findings at the closing session.

MIR Initiative Chairman of the Steering Committee, Mr. Jan C. Harder participated together with Andreas Heym, Director of International Development, AREP; Representative of the CEO, Gares &  Connexions Station Directorate, SNCF, Dmitry Kovalev, Partner, PwC Russia, Boris Lapidus, CEO, VNIIZhT, Chairman of the International Council of Railway Studies, International Union of Railways, Alexander Misharin, Senior Vice-President, Russian Railways; President, Russian Transport Academy, Fyodor Pekhterev, CEO, Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Studies, Yury Saakyan, CEO, Institute of Natural Monopolies Research and Viktor Stepov, Vice-President for Management System Development, Russian Railways in this round table.

Beginning with references to the historical benchmarks of creating rail corridors based on the Frejus Rail tunnel connecting Italy and France and the role of transit corridors in general for the unity of Italy in the 19^th century Mr. Harder reported on the importance of rail corridors in the future development of economies in the globalized world. Mankind is and will be changed on the basis of mobility and the most sustainable means in form of railway transportation will play a key role. The idea and implementation of the White Book on the future of transport in the region Middle East, Europe, Turkey and Russia, so called METR region was reported and the METRO of the METR Map establishing the concept of the NEW RAILWAY SILK ROAD was presented connecting the North and South and the East and West based on the European Ten-T network. Besides the importance of the Cities along the NEW RAILWAY SILK ROAD as future stations of the High Speed Network was described and the Forum of the Cities of the New Railway Silk Road was presented as a mechanism to lobby the creation of this new corridor and secure the interest of the urban conglomerations in the process. This development will need to reduce existing barriers and challenges of technogical, political, econimcal and also social dimensions. 

Beside this plenary presentation a coordination meeting with the project coordinator of MIR Initiative, Mr. Ernest Sultanov was held during the SP1520 Forum and the White Book METRO of the METR was handed over personally to present authors of the White Book from Russia and Europe as Mr. Alexander Misharin, First Vice-President of Russian Railways or Mr. Boris Levin, Rector of the Moscow Railway Engineering University (MIIT). The Forum was a perfect momentum to discuss with stakeholders and contributors of MIR Initiative further development and support of the activities of MIR Initiative and the joint target to create a platform for cultural, social, economic, and political dialogue.

The presentation held by Mr. Harder, Chairman of the Steering Committee can be found here: