Home  ›  Updates  ›  MIR's expert Jan Harder on the 1520 Strategic Partnership in Vienna

On February, 20th MIR Initiative’s Chairman of the Steering Committee Jan Harder, who also occupies the post of CEO of Molinari Rail Systems GmbH, gave a speech on the Strategic Partnership 1520 Forum in Vienna, Austria. He discussed the opportunities of the unified 1520 and 1435 rail systems in Eurasia and the steps to be taken to fully realize the potential of these opportunities.

Jan highlighted the following hurdles in strengthening the interoperability between 1520 and 1435: absence of a legally binding normative base for entire region, insufficient funding and political priority for railway lines, lack of join work, too much time needed for carriages’ reloading.  

For these issues to be dealt with close international cooperation and political consensus is necessary, which in their turn require elaboration of a clear vision of the future. One of the possible frameworks for dealing with the problem is the New Silk Road – a project that long has been promoted by MIR Initiative within its New Silk Road Cities Forum which acts as a platform for mutual dialogue and for birth of new incentives.

One more important side to the problem is the technology that stands behind the 1435-1520 mutual projects. Harmonization requires transparency of data on ongoing development, yet the availability of information today leaves space for improvement. Technology here helps to increase availability of data and with this purpose MIR Initiative has developed TrackTrack – a system that combines big data technologies with business analytics and a news engine to provide companies and governmental structures with relevant information and analytics in real time.

Jan also presented Molinari Rail’s One-Stop-Shop Solution which aims at integration of the uncoordinated processes in manufacturing and maintenance of railway vehicles.

The future of Eurasian 1435-1520 region can be exciting provided that the needed cooperation and innovative technologies will be incorporated in the projects.

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. This year it was attended by Maxim Sokolov, Russia's Minister for Transportation, Oleg Belozerov, CEO of Russian Railways, Jochen Eickholt, CEO of Siemens Mobility Division, Alexander Hedderich, CEO DB Schenker Rail, Henri Poupart-Lafarge, President Alstom Transport and other represantatives of leading railway companies.