Baku is hosting a regular meeting of the Working Group of the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) jointly with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) of the UN, dedicated to accelerating the digital transformation of railways in the region of North and Central Asia.

During the meeting, the participants consider the issues of attracting investments and high technologies in the field of railway transport in order to increase its competitiveness and improve the quality of services.

As part of the event, a meeting of experts on the digitalization of international freight and rail transport in the region of North and Central Asia was also held.

The event was attended by representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the ESCAP secretariat, the ESCAP Subregional Office for North and Central Asia (SONCA), the International Union of Railways (UIC), TRACECA and other international organizations, according to the website of the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan.

Considering the important role of digitalization in the development of the transport system in the Asia-Pacific region, the ESCAP secretariat is implementing a technical assistance project “New technologies and digital transformation to improve the sustainability and competitiveness of rail transport in North and Central Asia”.

In recent years, and even during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in international freight traffic on the Trans-Asian Railway network, highlighting the enormous benefits of rail transport, including its greater resilience to pandemics and other negative factors. In order to further strengthen international rail transport, experts believe there is an urgent need to reduce excessive delays at border crossings through harmonized electronic exchange of information between railways. In addition, the development and implementation of smart solutions in the field of railway communications and the deepening of the digitalization of railways throughout the region, including the landlocked SPECA countries, are of great importance.

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