On October 7, the six-day technical visit of the managers of the West Siberian Railway ended at the Far Eastern Railway. The West Siberian railway workers paid a return visit a month after their colleagues from the Far East had visited their railway. Such visits of experts of two railways became a part of the educational programme implemented by the Corporate University of Russian Railways.

Among the participants there were not only heads of verticals of the West Siberian Railway - traffic, traction, infrastructure ones and heads of key stations and facilities - but also representatives of major metallurgical and coal companies of Siberia.

"Participation of the partners of the Russian Railways company is of particular value of the programme. This is how a comprehensive understanding of the transportation process is formed, and the opinions and suggestions of our customers will certainly contribute to improving the efficiency of interaction between the railway, shippers and seaports," said Denis Kuznechikhin, Director of the Far Eastern Branch of the Corporate University of Russian Railways.

On the final day, the guests met with Yevgeny Veide, Head of the Far Eastern Railway. During the meeting they shared their impressions of the work of the railway facilities of the Vladivostok and Khabarovsk regions, and also identified issues in which joint work would help.

"Despite the long distances, the Far Eastern and West Siberian railways are closely connected. These are unified technologies for the start and end of the transportation," said Yevgeny Veide, starting the meeting. – You have seen how the destination stations of the trains that you form work, how the empty run that will go in your direction is formed and what difficulties it involves".

According to Denis Kuznechikhin, director of the Far Eastern Branch of the Corporate University of Russian Railways, when preparing the programme, emphasis was placed on the main points of interaction between the two railways.

"We wanted our colleagues to have an understanding of how the port infrastructure works, how the Far Eastern Directorate of Traffic Management and the Far Eastern Territorial Transport Service Center organize their work," he added.

The Siberians first got acquainted with the specifics of the Far Eastern Railway in Vladivostok, on the Pacific coast, where cargoes are exported to China and other Asia-Pacific countries. The delegation visited the stations Mys Churkin, Gaydamak, Smolyaninovo, Nakhodka, Nakhodka-Vostochnaya, Mys Astafiev, got acquainted with the work of coal terminals, Vladivostok Sea Fishing Port, Commercial Port of Vladivostok, Vostochny Port.

In Khabarovsk, at the Khabarovsk-2 out-of-class station, a substantive and thorough conversation took place between Siberian and local workers of traffic management, wagon and locomotive divisions.

"Colleagues were most interested in the prospect of developing an odd sorting system, the passage of empty train traffic that returns from ports," said Stanislav Markov, head of the Khabarovsk–2 station. – They asked for details about plans for the construction of a transit park, the reconstruction of an odd sorting park. Colleagues were also interested in the prospects after the implementation of these projects: how the processing capacity of the odd sorting system will increase, how it will affect the unloading of port stations."

The delegation from Western Siberia also got acquainted with the work of the Khabarovsk-2 wagon maintenance depot. Siberians were impressed by the technology of container transportation in gondola cars using pneumoshells, which was first introduced at the Far Eastern Railway. They saw it in action from the bus window, moving from Khabarovsk-2 station to Khabarovsk-1 station.

"We now see that there is a need for closer cooperation in the rolling stock facilities in order to reduce the number of wagons with a critical wheel flange size," said Georgy Manakov, Deputy Chief Engineer of the West Siberian Railway. – After getting acquainted with colleagues from the Far Eastern Railway, there will be closer contact on other issues. I'm sure the ideas and technological solutions to improve the work of both railways will emerge then."

Commenting on the opinions of Siberian colleagues, Yevgeny Veide stressed that the Far Eastern Railway is open to new technologies. Already today, virtual coupling is developing on the railway, a lot of rigid coupling solutions are being used, which allow carrying heavy trains, technologies are developing that allow passing sections with complex track profiles without delay.

"The railway is difficult, but the people here are unique – starting from the linear level and ending with the managers on whom the strategy of the facilities depends," said the Head of the Railway. "I am very glad that you managed to establish contact, get acquainted with the specifics of the work of the two railways and now directly, through personal communication, build technologies from the beginning of the transportation to the end."

As a result of the visit, the participants will defend their reports, prepare projects that will help improve the joint work of the two railways, as well as their own departments.

Based on the materials of the Publishing House "Gudok"