Press Release
The Second Meeting of the Working Group for Implementation of Trans-Asian Railway Mainline was held at Astana in 12 June 2007. Delegates from the capitals of all Member States, as well as the representatives of the ECO Secretariat attended the Meeting.
The Meeting was inaugurated by Mr. Marat Urazbekov, Chairman of Railway Transport Committee of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan. In his inaugural address, Mr. Urazbakev hoped that the decisions of the Working Group would benefit the whole region.
In his inaugural statement, Mr. Serik Alybayev, Deputy Secretary General of the ECO, emphasized on the great importance of the subject of the Meeting and called the participating delegates for coming up with concrete solutions to obstacles impeding the regular operation of Almaty-Istanbul Container and Passenger Trains.
The Meeting finalized the long-awaited Transit Timetable of the ECO Container Train in the above route. It further decided that the duration of freight movement in the route, ie.11 days and 18 hours according to the agreed Timetable, be further shortened to enhance the competitiveness of the Train. The shortened timetable should be prepared within two months and circulated for conformation of the concerned Member States.
The Meeting took a firm stride in settling the issue of tariffs through agreeing on a mechanism which was both acceptable to all Member State and would sustain the competitiveness of the route in future. The agreed mechanism was a breakthrough considering the fact that it was endorsed unanimously by all Member States en-route the Train.
Regarding the Passenger Train, The Meeting adopted a phase bound approach, based on the successful experience of Tehran-Istanbul Train. Iran, Turkey and Turkmenistan agreed to expedite, with the support of the Secretariat, launching the train between Iran and Turkmenistan through a special committee to be established shortly. Once the Train becomes operational between Iran and Turkmenistan, initiative would start to extend it to other en-route Member States.
The Meeting agreed on specific measures to revise the Action Plan for Revitalization of the China-Middle East-Europe Corridor and undertake a study on the physical and non-physical barriers to the revitalization of the said corridor.
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