From 19 till 23 April 2021, meeting XXXVI of the Conference of General Directors (Authorised Representatives) of OSJD Railways was held in the OSJD Committee premises using the videoconferencing online mode, which was attended by the general directors and authorised representatives from the following OSJD railways:

- Azerbaijani Railways CJSC (AZD CJSC),

- Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA),

- Byelorussian Railway (BC),

- MAV – Hungarian State Railways Co. (MAV Co.),

- “Vietnamese Railway” State Company (VZD),

- “Georgian Railway” JSC (GR),

- Railway of the Islamic Republic of Iran (RAI),

- “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Company” JSC (“KTZ NC” JSC),

- China State Railway Group Со., Ltd.

- Korean Railroad Corporation “KORAIL”,

- “Kyrgyz Temir Zholu National Company” State Enterprise (KRG),

- Latvijas dzelzceļš SJSC (Latvian Railway, LDZ),

- Lietuvos geležinkeliai JSC (Lithuanian Railways, LTG),

- “Railway of Moldova” State Enterprise (CFM),

- “Ulan-Bator Railway” JSC (UBZD JSC),

- “Polish State Railways” JSC (PKP),

- “Russian Railways” OJSC (RZD OJSC),

- National Railway Company of Romania “CFR” – SA (CFR),

- Railways of the Slovak Republic (ZSR),

- State Unitary Enterprise “Rohi Ohani Tojikiston” (TDZ),

- “Turkmendemiryollary” Agency of the Ministry of Industry and Construction Production of Turkmenistan (TRK),

- “O’zbekiston temir yo’llari” JSC (UTI),

- Ukrainian Railway JSC (UZ),

- Czech Railways JSC (ČD),

- Estonian Railway JSC (EVR).

The CGD meeting was also attended by the invited representatives from: OSJD observers – Federal Passenger Company JSC (Russia), VR Group (Finnish Railways); OSJD affiliated enterprises – Frauscher Sensortechnik GmbH (Austria), Northeast Asia Railway Corporation CJSC (China), Beijing Jiaotong University (China), Southwest Jiaotong University (Chengdu, China); SIGIS Ltd. (Latvia), Association of Higher Educational Institutions of Transport (Russia), Ruscon Group (Russia), TransContainer PJSC (Russia), Betamont LLC (Slovakia), PLASKE JSC (Ukraine), METRANS Group (Czech Republic), OLTIS Group JSC (Czech Republic); Directorate of the Council for Railway Transport of the Commonwealth Member States (CSZT), the International Coordinating Council on Trans-Eurasian Transportation (CCTT), the International Union of Railways (UIC) and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EAEC).

Opening the Conference meeting, Attila Kiss, Secretary of the OSJD Committee, who was also the meeting chairman, noted that due to the difficult situation in the world related to the coronavirus infection pandemic it was not possible to hold the meetings of the OSJD governing bodies in person (offline) both in 2020 and this year. Starting from March 2020, the OSJD working bodies and the OSJD executive body, OSJD Committee, have been working in difficult conditions, fulfilling the approved plans and work programme. Most of the OSJD meetings are held in a videoconferencing mode (online), which resulted in a successful implementation of the assigned tasks by the OSJD working bodies.

In his welcoming address to the meeting participants, Chairman of the OSJD Committee Mirosław Antonowicz congratulated all present on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Organisation for Co-operation between Railways’ foundation, which over the years has passed a glorious path of its formation,

flourishing, overcoming difficulties, gaining outstanding successes and impressive achievements. During its existence, OSJD has made an invaluable contribution to the development and improvement of international railway transport in the Eurasian space, increasing their efficiency and competitiveness, as well as contributed greatly to the development of cooperation between the railways of the OSJD member countries. Thanks to the well-coordinated work of specialists, the competitiveness and attractiveness of railway transport, as well as the quality of transportation in the Eurasian space in cooperation with other modes of transport, have significantly increased.

Mirosław Antonowicz also noted that OSJD continues its work towards improving the regulatory and legal framework in order to better the quality and reduce the time of carriage, meeting the needs for transportation in the context of continuing restrictions and the pandemic.

As part of the meeting agenda, the work progress for 2020 of the OSJD Commission on Freight Traffic, OSJD Commission on Passenger Traffic, OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock, Permanent Working Group (PWG) on Coding and Information Technology, PWG on Finance and Accounting were considered.

The following issues were also considered and approved: the progress of mutual settlements and the mechanism for repayment of arrears between the railways, work progress of the AWG on vocational education/training in the field of railway transport, Report on the OSJD activities for 2020, OSJD Work Programme for 2022 and subsequent years, OSJD Committee Budget (final – for 2021 and preliminary – for 2022).

As a result of the consideration of issues and the discussion held, the working results for 2020 of the OSJD Commissions on Freight Traffic, on Passenger Traffic, on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock, PWG on Coding and Information Technology, as well as PWG on Finance and Accounting were approved.

When considering the working results of the OSJD Commission on Freight Traffic, the heads of delegations of the RZD OJSC, RAI, LDZ, KZD and GR took the floor, having noted the high quality and importance of the Commission’s work, especially in the context of the pandemic, and expressed their full support for its activities.

In order to further develop and improve the freight traffic, the Commission was entrusted to continue its work in the field of all subjects being within its competence, namely: to improve the Agreement on the organisational and operational aspects of combined transport in the Europe-Asia traffic and to update its Annexes I, II, III and IV, to develop the combined, multimodal and intermodal transport, on the subject “Studying the terminology of combined, intermodal and multimodal transport (TCIMT)”, to improve the Agreements on ETT, MTT and to update the ETT and MTT Tariffs, to improve and update the PGW agreement, to update and harmonise the GNG Commodity Code, to update the List of Freight Stations of OSJD Railways in accordance with OSJD Leaflet O 405, to organise the carriage of large-capacity containers in international traffic, to develop a draft document on the transportation of containers as part of container trains in international traffic, to facilitate and organise the transportation of postal items in international traffic, to develop a draft Agreement on the carriage of containers as part of container trains in international traffic, to facilitate and organise the transportation of goods using the CIM/SMGS consignment note, to continue the work relating to the use of freight wagons in international traffic, including the organisation of information interaction on the use of freight wagons, to continue implementing the UNESCAP project “Commercialisation of the Regional Railway Corridor between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran”, to coordinate by the railway companies the freight train timetables in international traffic, to coordinate the freight traffic volumes in international segment, to facilitate the competitiveness and marketing of freight traffic.

When discussing the working results of the OSJD Commission on Passenger Traffic, it was noted that the passenger sector was most affected by the pandemic, both in international and domestic traffic, as a result of which the movement of a number of trains was suspended. In this regard, the Commission was proposed to continue its work towards the restoration of international passenger traffic, taking into account the adopted Recommendations, paying particular attention to ensuring the sanitary safety of passengers and personnel, to which end it was instructed to develop and coordinate the timetables, coach sequence schemes for passenger trains and the provision of coaches in them in the international traffic of groups I and II of railways for 2021/2022, to continue updating the Agreement on the International Railway Passenger Tariff (MPT) taking into account the changes and amendments to SMPS, to update the Agreement on the Rules for the Use of Passenger Coaches in International Traffic (PPW) and the PPW Rules, to continue working on the subject “Seat reservation systems, reference and information services for passengers, the pro vision of services and formation of financial statements”, as well as to ensure the scheduled movement of international passenger trains.

When considering the working results as part of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock, a number of technical leaflets were approved with the cancellation of their previous editions (O 592, O+R 756, O+R 773/6). The Commission was instructed to continue work on the subjects “Rolling stock dimensions in international traffic, taking into account the requirements for interoperability”, “Railway track and engineer structures”, “Signalling, interlocking and communications networks”, “Power supply and power traction devices”, “Rolling stock for railways. Technical requirements for its elements”, “Reviewing and converting the OSJD/UIC joint leaflets into draft international technical railway solutions (IRS)”.

The OSJD Permanent Working Group on Coding and Information Technology (PWG CI) was entrusted to continue its work in the field of such topics as “Coding and Information Technology”, “Paperless technology for the carriage of goods in international traffic by rail”, “Conducting international financial settlements using paperless technology”, “Security of information resources and information and telecommunications infrastructure”, “Information support for freight and passenger traffic. Technical specifications for interoperability (TAF TSI and TAP TSI)”, “OSJD Website”.

New editions of OSJD leaflets O 920-1, O 920-13, O+R 941, O+R 943, O+R 944 have been approved with the cancellation of their previous editions.

Assessing the work carried out within the framework of the PWG CI, Vyacheslav Pavlovsky, Deputy General Director of the Russian Railways OJSC, noted that this area of activity was extremely relevant and important in light of the challenges facing the railways aimed at introducing modern digital technologies in the transportation process in order to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of railway traffic.

The OSJD Permanent Working Group on Finance and Accounting (PWGF) was entrusted to continue its work in the field of updating the current Agreement on the Rules for Accounting in International Passenger and Freight Railway Traffic and the Rules for Accounting in International Passenger and Freight Railway Traffic, taking into account the current operating conditions of railway transport, improving the technology and reducing the time for performing the accounting due for the transportation in international railway traffic, preparing the proposals for the organisation of electronic document circulation in the area of financial relations which were agreed by the Parties to the Agreement on the Rules for Accounting.

CGD meeting XXXVI made a decision to grant the status of an OSJD affiliated enterprise to the following companies:

- Gepard Express, SE, Brno, Czech Republic, specialised in the field of passenger railway traffic;

- Ost-West Logistic Poland LLC, Warsaw, Republic of Poland, which is a licensed railway freight carrier (part of the Ost-West Logistik Netzwerk Investment Group);

- СER Cargo Holding, Budapest, Hungary, the main activities of which are concentrated in the field of freight forwarding.

The meeting participants have agreed on the preliminary agenda of CGD meeting XXXVII and have accepted with gratitude the invitation of the Acting Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Railway JSC (UZ) to hold meeting XXXVII of the Conference from 18 till 22 April 2022 in Kiev (Kyiew, Ukraine).