On 10 November, UIC was invited to take part in the grand opening of the FERMED conference on “Trans-Eurasian Railway Connections and Multimodal Links in EU and Neighbouring Countries” which was hosted by the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU.

This conference was an opportunity for FERRMED to highlight the opportunities for the Eurasian land-bridge railway system. This was illustrated by all the panellists and in particular by Mr Wang Hongjian (Minister of the Chinese Mission to the EU) who explained the support received by many countries across the New Silk Road to implement the OBOR strategy.

FERMED conferences are a key milestone in the agenda of corridor development and on behalf of UIC Director General Mr Loubinoux, Mrs Sandra Géhénot, UIC Freight Director, thanked Mr Amoros for being given the opportunity to present UIC’s work in the field of corridor development.

“The context is right, the OBOR strategy highlights this as well as the investments made in Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey” she said. Studies show that, already now, half a million TEU could be transported if rail could propose improvements on key levers such as transport time, reliability and frequency of service.

Interoperability improvements between Transcontinental Corridors and European Rail Freight Corridors should not be neglected either and this is the work UIC expert groups have begun to look into as well.