PRO//Motion.1520: summary
The international transport and logistics forum PRO//MOTION.1520 is over. During the two days of the forum business program, 12 sessions and round tables were held, which were attended by 1,400 people from 340 companies representing 16 countries. Below is a brief digest of the most interesting topics and statements of the speakers.
03.10.2015 – Discussion day
Simplified border crossing, growing load ratio of day express trains and Moscow-Adler trip in 16 hours are the main topics of the strategic session “PRO Passenger transportation today: problems, trends, goals”.
“It is the reality, that we have strong competition here. Our competitors are motor vehicles, they act rather powerfully both in terms of legislation and provision of services,” said Dmitry Pegov, director of passenger transportation, JSC “Russian Railways”. “The services they provide are not always high quality services, but we need to respond to the situation”.
Dmitry Pegov sees ways to develop the passenger transportation segment. The statistics over the recent years shows that the measures taken by JSC “Russian Railways”, incorporated in the development program, bring about positive developments.
“Since the beginning of 2017, in 2017, we, together with FPC and suburban companies, made a number of efforts aimed at restoring passenger traffic”, Dmitry Pegov said. “In general, it grew 4.8 percent, high-speed operation grew 25 percent. Our passengers are returning from other modes of transport”.
An important, key point is that no positive trends have been seen yet in international traffic. At the present moment, there are 17 international routes in the field of activity of JSC “Russian Railways”, and the passenger traffic decreased 1.7 percent according to the last year results, maintaining the trend of the recent years. There is growth observed in certain routes from the Central Asia, but it is not enough to have an impact on the entire volume.
Dmitry Pegov encouraged the participants to engage actively in the work on implementing the recommendations of UN Resolution No. 264. It gives a direction, and all the rest depends on the actions on the part of carriers and countries.
“We need to support the adoption of a convention on simplified border crossing by passengers and luggage which we brought to the UN”, Pegov said. “Thus, an additional advantage will be obtained, using night trains will become easier and more convenient”.
“FPC approved the development concept up to year 2030. An important, cornerstone point is the balance between commercial and social tasks”, said Peter Ivanov, General Director of JSC FPC.
The main directions can be described in three words: network, park, products. Another point of the program is using new trains that allow the formation of five-component trains. Ultimate target: Moscow – Adler in 16 hours, night train – by 2025.
“Development and quality improvement are important to us. The average age of a rolling stock today is 18 years, by 2025 it is necessary to reach 12.5 years, with 600 cars ordered each year, with compensation for decommissioning and growth”, said Peter Ivanov, general director of JSC FPC.
Check-men make the sign of the Cross at face recognition, MCC as an example of global influence of railway on the urban and social environment – this is “PRO Passengers. Meeting the client halfway: service, time, comfort”.
“The development vector is integration. We need to interconnect all modes of transport”, said Alexey Belyankin, Head of the Center for Corporate Management of the Suburban Complex of JSC “Russian Railways”.
“Two million passengers a day is our standard indicator, this is daily labor migration”, said Maxim Dyakonov, CEO, JSC Central PPC. “During the year, we carry about 600 million passengers, and we understand the request: comfort and speed.”
Maxim Dyakonov pointed out digitalization as the most important focus area. New technologies have a direct impact on the speed of passenger traffic, the overall comfort of using transport.
“The goal is not using the conventional sales channels at all, to cancel tickets, to switch to a mobile application, which is already underway”, Maxim Dyakonov said.
CPPC is already testing conceptually new validation systems, research and development are underway, including face scanning, and the experience is generally positive.
“To be honest, there is a check-man next to the validator during the test. So, when the first person passed by, his face recognized by the system, this check-man literally made the sign of the Cross”, Maxim Dyakonov shared.
“We can clearly see the effect of the MCC in numbers. The circle metro line was unloaded 15 percent, the central railway stations were unloaded 20-40 percent”, said Yulia Temnikova, deputy head of customer service development and customer relations at the State Unitary Enterprise Moscow Metro.
Such indicators as influence on the urban environment, and the urbanization level are not part of the sphere of direct interests of the MCC and the Moscow Metro. Nevertheless, the statistics are impressive.
During the construction and with the start of its operation, the MCC ensured the creation of more than 40,000 jobs. The MCC gave an impulse to the construction of more than 300 thousand square meters of apart-hotels, about 250 thousand square meters of sales area, 200 thousand square meters of offices. It is safe to say that these figures reflect the highest level of influence of railway on the life of urban agglomeration. All this under conditions of an already existing “alternative” transport infrastructure, working in an already existing metropolitan city.
Neural network analyzing operation of locomotives, smart contacts at the OKZhD, multiple reduction in the time of mounted wheels replacement – this is only a short list of topics covered at the round table “PRO Technologies: digital transformation of transport services”.
“Digital transformation means doing what we have to do according to the manufacturing process, but more efficiently and productively”, said Kirill Semion, Head of the Department of Informatization, JSC “Russian Railways”. “We focus on the effect, and there are situations when digital technology is required to achieve the effect. In some cases, digital technologies can increase the effects, and sometimes – to obtain them, it is impossible to deal without them”.
Kirill Semion made a reservation that he personally does not really like the term “blockchain”, as it is associated with finances. With regard to the realities of railways, in his opinion, it is more correct to use the term “distributed registry technology”, since this reflects the meaning more accurately.
“The use of the distributed registry technology is already being tested and applied at the OKZhD. For example, by introducing this technology we managed to achieve an effect when the period of replacement of mounted wheels was reduced tenfold”, Kirill Semion said. “Also, at the Oktyabrskaya road, we are testing smart contracts, working on the technological part”.
A vivid innovation is the construction of a neural network to analyze the operation of locomotive devices.
“Take a node, collect all the statistics, for a naked eye – it a certain field of dots”, Kirill Semion said. “With the help of a neural network, we were able to identify trends, we can predict its behavior with a 95 percent accuracy for a span of up to 10 days. We can use it most efficiently, knowing that a pre-breakdown condition is about to come, we will either not send it on a route or send it on such a route where it can be serviced”.
02.10.2015 – Strategies day
Social, high-speed, innovative – these three words sounded more frequently than others at the opening ceremony of the PRO//Motion 1520 forum. In absolute terms, the word “social” was mentioned 9 times by the speakers, while “high-speed” and “innovative” – 8 times each.
In his speech, Oleg Belozyorov, head of JSC “Russian Railways”, expressed his confidence in the efficiency of the forum. He outlined the key topics for discussion, that will concern both engineering and technology, as well as the issue of staff creation, human resources.
Yevgeny Ditrikh, the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, confirmed the dominant, most important role of railways in the transport system of Russia. Yevgeny Ditrikh read out the welcome speech of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In his speech, the Prime Minister also stressed the predominant social importance of railway transport.
The plenary session PRO Future of the World Transport System: Global Trends was devoted both to reviewing the forecasts and to specific plans of the carriers.
The key speaker, Parag Khanna, is among the 75 most influential people of the 21st century, according to the Esquire magazine, he has a doctorate of the London School of Economics.
Khanna believes that Europe is the area of maximum trade turnover volumes. But the trade vector has shifted, Europe is using transatlantic trade less, $ 1.6 trillion is the trade turnover between Europe and Asia. At the same time, China has not yet acquired the status of the leading Asian economy, but this role can be assumed by South Korea, which is developing financial and economic ties with India, China again, and other countries in the region.
An important point is that cargoes start going not only from the east to the west, now cargoes also go to the east. The result is that in 10 years the trade turnover between Europe and Asia will reach 2.5 trillion dollars against the current 1.5 trillion.
“The potential of the wheel-rail system will be very far from being exhausted by 2050”, Oleg Belozyorov is convinced. “This is taking into account the development of alternative technologies, delivery systems, for example, the presently known Hyperloop”.
The head of JSC “Russian Railways” commented on the key indicators of the company’s development program, which, in particular, provides for the achievement of an indicator of 180 million tons capacity through the BAM and Transsib trunks by 2024.
It is planned to increase the capacity of container traffic, reduce the trip from east to west to 7 days.
Finally, a global contour of the high-speed trunk railway (VSM) will be shaped inside the country, the Moscow-Gorokhovets feeder should be put into operation by 2024, but the end point may be brought even further.
At the strategic session “PRO Strategies for Infrastructure Investments”, the topics of competition for the capital of railways with other transport sectors, the matters of investment and instrument efficiency were suggested for discussion.
“The railroad should think little about investments, because we work for the good of the country”, thinks Edvins Berzinš, Chairman of the Board, President of SJSC “Latvian Railways”.
He explained that there are joints, gaps, certain losses, but ultimately the railway gives an impulse for development, so investing in the railway is a public matter. Building railways means creation of a colossal infrastructure, new industries, jobs, and it should be considered from this point of view.
“We must understand that 1 ruble invested in the infrastructure is a return of about 3–3.5 rubles”, stated Dmitry Snesar, Senior Vice President of VTB Bank PJSC.
The financier spoke very carefully about bonds: in his opinion, this scheme is not always applicable and carries certain dangers and risks.
“Globally speaking, we once had an ideal financing model in the Tsarist Russia”, shared Alexander Misharin, First Deputy CEO of JSC “Russian Railways”. “The state guaranteed profitability on bonds issued by the railway, we can only dream of such a mechanism.”
Alexander Misharin noted that over the recent years there have been major changes, new mechanisms, concession agreements, forms of public-private partnership have been implemented and developed.
“We must use all forms of financing for megaprojects, such as the high-speed trunk railway (VSM), we must have hybrid financing, Take or Pay and other schemes”, Alexander Misharin said.
The round table “PRO new speeds” answered the questions concerning the immediate prospects and strategic directions of the development of the high-speed trunk railway (VSM) in Russia and globally.
“I must acknowledge that the Russian Sapsan, in terms of punctuality, exceeds the German and French railways, it is at the level of the Japanese Shinkonsan”, said Dietrich Moeller, Head of Regional Sales, Siemens Mobility GmbH. “In 2003, when the project started, it was hard to even imagine such a thing.”
Now the company is working on a new generation of the speed train and is ready to offer it to Russia.
“When creating a new train, the task was to reduce maintenance costs and expenses by an average of 20 percent, while increasing capacity and reducing weight by around 10, and the engineers solved the problems”, Dietrich Moeller reported.
Regarding the time of its appearance, Moeller considers the period of 3 to 5 years realistic.
The absence of transport reaching a speed of 300 kilometers per hour is a competitive disadvantage of the entire transport system of Russia”, Alexander Misharin, First Deputy CEO of JSC “Russian Railways”, is convinced.
Also, Alexander Misharin points out that when assessing the financial efficiency of railway infrastructure projects, especially the high-speed trunk railway (VSM), it is necessary to apply global methods. It is necessary, for example, to take into account budget revenues from operational effects, as in the UK.
“Operational profitability of VSM is from 70 to 80 percent. When they say that subsidies will be required, as in suburban transportation, no, this is not so, this is a different transportation”, Alexander Misharin emphasized.
The strategic session “PRO Technology of the Future: What Shall We Carry Cargo with” included hardly any futurology and a great number of real and immediate needs of the industry. On the agenda, there were the requirements imposed by the consumers on railway technology, the transition to digital technologies, the development of management systems aimed at improving the safety and reliability of the transportation process.
According to estimates made on the basis of current trends and the program for the development of railways until 2025, the industry will ensure production load up to 600 locomotives and 5,000 cars per year.
“Digital motion control systems, Digital Depot 4.0, Digital Plant are not airy-fairy schemes, not plans, but projects with specific implementation dates and financing”, said Kirill Lipa, CEO, JSC “Transmashholding”.
According to him, the digital train control systems developed by the company are already being implemented on a private network of some large private clients.
“Please don’t get me wrong, we are in no way stepping into traffic control, but without such a system it is impossible to serve the rolling stock and locomotives efficiently and quickly”, Kirill Lipa asserts.
The talk here is about implementing predictive technologies. Digital complexes are able to analyze operation of 11 series locomotives online. Also, in real-time, the system provides information on the pre-breakdown state of components and assemblies, and in parallel, also automatically, a shift-daily task is created at the depot. Accordingly, this solution allows for reducing downtime during repairs, to avoid unplanned stoppages due to failures, therefore, to improve the efficiency of the entire system radically.
“I should note (while I don’t like this term very much, but still) that 60 percent of exported coal is already being transported by so-called innovative cars”, shared Alexey Sokolov, First Deputy CEO for Strategy and Product, United Wagon Company (NPK “OVK”).
In his opinion, the dispute on the need to switch to similar and more advanced cars is useless when having in mind large planning horizons. Tests show that an innovative car is capable of travelling at a speed of 105 kilometers per hour, regardless of the load, both empty and full. The “non-innovative” analogs, operated at the moment, can withstand up to 90 kilometers per hour when empty and only 60 with a maximum load. It is clear that these indicators do not fit into the industry development strategy.
The delegates of the International Transport & Logistics Forum PRO// Motion.1520 will discuss PRO transport corridors, international cooperation and cargo traffic acceleration. The main event of 2018 in Russian transport sector will take place in Sochi Main Media Centre on October 1-3. The Forum will become the main venue for a productive dialogue between the transport industry, government representatives, investment professionals and experts.
One of the key points of PRO//Motion.1520 program is to present breakthrough technologies heralded as having the potential to revolutionize the traditional model of transport, passenger and freight transportation.
Forum participants will search for new mutually beneficial ways of interaction between various means of transport, develop common initiatives to satisfy client requirements, seek involvement of financial institutions into large-scale infrastructure projects, and focus on digitalization.
Representatives of large financial corporations will take part in a session dedicated to the development of ideal investment strategies for budgeting railway projects.
Heads of the national railways as well as transport industry experts will participate in a session focused on the removal of export obstacles. Topics for discussion: East-West transport corridor development, accelerating carriage of containers from the Far East to the western borders of Russia, speedy dispatch of goods in e-commerce business.
A separate thread of the business program will be dedicated to passenger transport. The 2nd International Passenger Forum focused on such issues as competition in the transport industry and the importance of marketing in the digital era will be held within the framework of PRO//Motion.1520
Representatives of Russian authorities, leading Russian and foreign companies operating in logistics and transportation, and representatives of financial institutions will take part in the Forum.
This year the International Railway Forum PRO//Motion.1520 will be dedicated to the 15th anniversary of JSC Russian Railways.
Website: http://railwayforum.ru/
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