From 27 November till 1 December 2017, Warsaw, the capital of the Republic of Poland, hosted the third Session of the International Conference for the adoption of the text of the Convention on Direct International Railway Traffic, in which delegations from the following OSJD member states took part: Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Bulgaria, Hungary, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Georgia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, People’s Republic of China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Republic of Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Republic of Estonia, as well as representatives of the European Union (EU), Eurasian Economic Commission (EAEC), Republic of Korea, Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) and OSJD Committee.

LDz Loģistika, a subsidiary of Latvian Railway (SJSC Latvijas dzelzceļš; LDz), has signed a cooperation agreement with the German company RTSB, one of the leading container freight logistics companies with representation offices in Russia, China, Mongolia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere in Eurasia. Both companies have agreed to co-operate on development of container freight segment between China and Northern Europe and have started working on the development of new multimodal transport routes through the Port of Riga to Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.

In the city of Sochi the XLV OSJD Ministerial Conference session was held on 5-8 June 2017

From 27 till 31 March 2017 the II-nd session of the International Conference to adopt the Convention on Direct International Railway Traffic was held in Warsaw (Republic of Poland) attended by the delegations of the following OSJD member countries:

Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Albania, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Bulgaria, Hungary, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Georgia, Islamic Republic of Iran, People's Republic of China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Latvia, Republic of Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Republic of Poland, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Republic of Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Republic of Estonia. The session was also attended by the representatives of the European Union (EU), Republic of Korea, Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) and OSJD Committee.

The «One Belt – One Road” initiative envisages the development of railway traffic between the Eurasian countries.

In early spring 2017, journalists from the Xinhua News Agency (PRC) set off to verify the implementation of this initiative in practice, on the routes of container trains running under the brand of “China Railway Express” between China and Europe, having visited several hub stations along the route of Warsaw, Duisburg and London, and the countries that are located along the route of the “One Belt – One Road” initiative.

On 17 December 2016 the new international train "Strizh"/(Swift) No. 13/14 went on its maiden trip from the Kurskaya station of the Russian capital heading from Moscow to Berlin, and returning back from Berlin to Moscow on 18 December.

The joint meeting, held in the OSJD Committee on 6-9 December 2016, was attended by the plenipotentiary representatives of the members of the OSJD Ministerial Conference and/or plenipotentiary representatives of the members of the Conference of General Directors (Authorized Representatives) of OSJD Railways from the following countries:

The draft Convention on Direct International Railway Traffic has been developed for more than 10 years by the Ad Hoc Working Group for Updating the OSJD Fundamental Documents. The draft Convention includes as annexes the main international agreements and regulations binding within the framework of OSJD, including the SMPS and SMGS Agreements. As a result, the draft Convention was prepared and agreed upon in the framework of OSJD by the countries with different railway transport operational models.

Within the framework of preparation for the First Global Conference on Sustainable Transport to be carried out in Turkmenistan in late November 2016, an International Media-Forum was held in Ashgabat in the building of Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 16-17 September which was attended by more than 150 representatives of government bodies of Turkmenistan, international organisations and transport mass media from around the world.

The first China – Europe container block train under the family brand “China Railway Express” arrived in Poland. On 8 June the train set off from station in Chengdu, the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan, then crossed the territories of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus and arrived 12 days later in Warsaw on 20 June 2016, where a solemn ceremony was organised attended by Chairman of the Chinese People’s Republic, Xi Jinping, President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, heads of a number of ministries and railway administrations from both countries. The ceremony was organised within the framework of an official visit of the Head of the Chinese People’s Republic to the Republic of Poland.