Skip to main content

Round Table to take stock of the operational rail freight capacity of the Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul corridors (6 September 2022 – 15:00-18:00)

Round Table to take stock of the operational rail freight capacity of the Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul corridors (6 September 2022 – 15:00-18:00)

06 September 2022 15:00 - 18:00
Room XXI, Palais des Nations: in-person + virtual Geneva Switzerland

Held in conjunction with the thirty-fifth session of the Working Party on Transport Trends and Economics (WP.5, 5-7 September 2022)

Register now

 

I.            MANDATE

The Inland Transport Committee (ITC), at its eighty-fourth session in Geneva, in February 2022, acknowledged the ongoing efforts on the operationalization of Euro-Asian Transport Links (EATL). ITC also noted endorsement by the Working Party on Transport Trends and Economics (WP.5) of the initiative of the Governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to develop and implement an EATL Route 3 Corridor Coordination Management Mechanism (CCMM) and Corridor Performance Review (COPR) Mechanism and invited these Governments and the secretariat to provide an update on progress made at the next ITC session in February 2023.

It is with the above mandate in mind that the UNECE secretariat jointly with the secretariat of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is organizing a Round Table discussion to take stock of the operational rail capacity of the Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul corridors.  Working document ECE/TRANS/WP.5/2022/1 and informal document no.1 (forthcoming) have been prepared as a background analysis for these discussions.

II.        OBJECTIVES

The Expert Round Table will gather senior railway, transport, and customs officials from countries on both corridors and will be expected to lead to a prioritized list of actions to be taken in relation to the harmonization of existing tariffs, services, and time schedules and already documented physical/ non-physical challenges and bottlenecks.

It will provide a platform for participants to:

  • To discuss the availability of reliable corridor-wide agreed timetables and tariffs as well as en route border crossing point efficiency for rail freight transport on both the Trans-Caspian and the Almaty-Istanbul corridors.
  • To agree on a prioritized list of actions to be taken in relation to harmonization of existing tariffs, services, and time schedules and to overcome remaining physical/ non-physical challenges and bottlenecks.     
  • To facilitate the regular container block train operations on both corridors.

 

III.          DRAFT PROGRAMME