FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT IN ASIA
Vasile N. Olievschi Railway Specialist
Astana– December 20-21, 2017 1 MAIN IDEAS
▪ Asian railways – great potential to become major international carrier ▪ Railways – from isolated national networks to interoperable connected network ▪ The comprehensive approach to railways interoperability ▪ Border crossing and levels of interoperability ▪ Common Parameters for Interoperability ▪ Considerations on the Way Forward
2 ASIAN RAILWAYS – GREAT POTENTIAL TO BECOME MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CARRIER
3 Length of Railway Lines Russian [km] Federation, Middle East, 85,266, 8% 5,253, 1%
Asia, 232,675, Africa, 50,959, 23% 5%
Australia, 8,615, 1% America, Europe, 371,114, 37% 253,161, 25%
MORE THAN 1 MILLION KM OF TRACK IN THE WHOLE WORLD
4 Volume of Freight Africa, 159, 2% [Billions ton-km] Europe, 558, Russian 6% Federation, 2,299, 24%
Asia, 3,359, 35% America, 3,253, 33%
5 Volume of Passengers Russian Federation, 129, 4% [Billion pass-km] Africa, 63, 2%
Europe, 471, 15%
Asia, 2,379, 78%
America, 22, 1%
6 Freight Railway Traffic Evolution
171%
154%
150%
132%
100% 122%
Europe & Russia Africa America Asia WORLD Average
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
7 Passenger Rail Traffic Evolution 192%
187%
162%
105% 100%
95%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Europe & Russia Africa America Asia WORLD Average
8 Traffic Density by Regions [traffic units/km] 24,659,976 Asia
World Average 12,671,401
America 8,822,739
Australia 6,923,854
Africa 4,360,270
Europe 4,066,325
Middle East 1,900,057
9 Railways Labor Productivity by Country [Traffic Units / Staff] 14,203,199
USA
South-Africa 6,220,375
Kazakhstan 3,232,831
Russian Federation 2,946,334
Japan 1,750,121
China (Pop. Rep. Of) 1,540,384
India 1,367,730
France 771,374
Germany 520,639
10 CONCLUSIONS ON STATISTICS
▪ Some of the most important railways in the world are in Asia ▪ Railways are a reliable component of the domestic transportation system in some Asian countries ▪ The long distances of transport specific for international markets and higher volumes to be moved with lower impact to the environment are the strong points in favor of railways ▪ In spite of these positive premises, the Asian railways are less successful on grabbing significant share of the international transport market
11 WHAT TO DO ?
▪ Becoming a competitive player in the international market is not easy for railways, and will certainly not be automatic ▪ To become an attractive option for shifting part of the existing volumes of traffic or for taking the new volumes of traffic generated by their countries, railways must provide quality transport services (price, speed, availability, punctuality, etc.) superior to those offered by the competition ▪ The study does not address all aspects of railway competitiveness; it tries to define the ways to make the Asian railways work better together for achieving higher interoperability
12 RAILWAYS – FROM ISOLATED NATIONAL NETWORKS TO INTEROPERABLE CONNECTED NETWORK
13 HISTORICAL RAILWAYS DEVELOPED INDEPENDENTLY OF EACH OTHER ▪ Railway companies have been created in a relatively short period of time in many countries, starting with the 19th century ▪ Integrated and self-regulated entities in charge of the construction and maintenance of their infrastructure and with the provision of the transport services ▪ It generated in each country specific technical standards, operating rules, commercial contracts or institutional frameworks ▪ As the business of the railway companies was limited for many years to their domestic markets