OREANDA-NEWS. November 18, 2010. The XV International Conference "Information Technologies for Rail Transport" took place at the Holiday Inn Moskovskiye Vorota hotel in St Petersburg. Russian Railways was the general partner of the event, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

Over the years, the conference has become an important communications platform for Russian and foreign specialists in rail and related industries. At this year’s event, the organisers created a substantially different programme, combining theory with practice and showcasing the latest developments in the industry. More than 600 delegates, representing 235 companies from 11 countries, took part.

Among the sponsors in attendance were leading players on the IT market, including Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, TransTeleCom, Microtest, Huawei Technologies, Nienschanz, Pulsar Telecom, ZTE Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks, Trans Information Technology Centre, and VMware.

In his welcoming address, Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin said: "Firstly, I would like to congratulate all the partners, participants, guests and organisers on this fifteenth annual conference. I am sure that the staging of this event will prove to be a reliable and practical instrument for coordinating the efforts of all participants on the transport market, to support the efficient development of the industry."

At the conference’s plenary session, participants discussed the role of information technology in Russia’s modernization, including high-priority tasks in applying IT to state management, the strategic objectives in developing Russian Railways’ information systems, and the legal framework for developing IT in transport.

Addressing the plenary session, Alexei Illarionov, Head of the IT and Corporate Process Management Department at Russian Railways, said: "We already have the necessary technology to transition from paper documents to electronic ones, but we do not yet have a sufficient legal and regulatory basis for further application of electronic document handling. To date, we have integrated and consolidated our information management systems architecture, introduced ITIL-based IT service management processes, and undertaken a full range of measures enabling us to monitor the cost of IT services."

The two-day conference featured four parallel sections. Also under discussion were: principles of building IT strategies for transport companies; risks and advantages of IT outsourcing; application of innovative solutions to modernise communications service provision infrastructure; telecommunications in rail transport technological processes and ensuring the interoperability of transportation systems; and wireless communication technologies in rail transport.

The next conference will take place in October 2011.