OREANDA-NEWS. September 28, 2012. A conference on improvement of regular passenger transportation by Russian-Finnish through railway service took place in Petrozavodsk.

Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen, Vice President of Russian Railways JSC and Director General of Federal Passenger Company Mikhail Akulov, Senior Vice President of VR-Group (Finnish transport company) Antti Tiitola, Head of the Oktyabrskaya Railway Viktor Stepov, as well as heads of a number of towns and regions of Karelia and Finland took part in the conference.

The main issue discussed at the meeting was organization of through passenger railway service on routes of Petrozavodsk – Sortavala – Joensuu and Petrozavodsk – Kostomuksha – Oulu.

The idea to introduce through trains between Karelia and Finland belongs to Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen. It became a component of the package of proposals of the Government of Karelia on expansion of cooperation with the neighbouring country considered during the recent trips and meetings with President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinisto, ministers of the Government, representatives of the Finnish municipalities. In the opinion of the Head of Karelia, expansion of tourist and cultural exchange is sure to lead to growth of business cooperation and will help in mobilization of investments. One of first steps in this direction should become development of railway passenger service as international automobile customs stations in Karelia and Leningrad region already work strained to the limit.

Alexander Khudilainen's proposals have caused interest of the Russian and Finnish railroaders who have a successful project of high-speed railway communication by Allegro train plying between St.-Petersburg and Helsinki to their credit. On September, 25 at the meeting in Petrozavodsk key decisions were made that in the near future will enable introduction of new passenger routes.

"Today's meeting will allow to define prospects of development of railway passenger communication between Karelia and Finland on routes of Petrozavodsk – Kostomuksha – Kajaani – Oulu and Petrozavodsk – Sortavala – Joensuu. Currently we have more than 10 million border crossings between Finland and Russia. The Finnish embassy and consulates in Russia have issued more than 1,5 million visas and these figures tend to grow, as at Russia's accession to WTO there will be more opportunities both in sphere of cultural and tourist exchange, and in the sphere of economic cooperation," - Alexander Khudilainen said opening the conference.

Mikhail Akulov, in turn, confirmed willingness of Russian Railways JSC to cooperate: "We see the opportunities which open up in cooperation between the Republic of Karelia and East and Northern Finland. Today we intend to find the best offers for the population of the two countries to make it possible to visit historical places, their relatives and friends, make business trips. It is a noble aim which in the years to follow may become a new stage of our development."

Interest in expansion of passenger communication with Russia and, in particular, with Karelia was also stated by representatives of the Finnish party. "We welcome the idea to develop the opportunities of transportation of passengers and tourists between Russia and Finland. Four tours from Helsinki to St. Petersburg and a night train from Helsinki to Moscow are an illustrative example for that. Communication between Russia and Finland is important for VR-Group," – Antti Tiitola said.

Negotiations resulted in signing the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Russian and Finnish authorities, railway administrations and carriers working on passenger railway transportation. Alexander Khudilainen, Mikhail Akulov, Antti Tiitola, as well as heads and representatives of Petrozavodsk, Kostomuksha, Sortavala, and Finnish towns of Oulu, Imatra, Kajaani, Joensuu, agencies of the government and the regional union of Northern Finland affixed their signatures to the document.

The parties have agreed to carry out joint researches of the market and volumes of passenger traffic on routes between Karelian and Finnish towns, to solicit the state supervising bodies for simplification of passport control for passengers of trains crossing the border, to advance use of railway transportation between Russia and Finland for business trips, development of cultural communications, student exchange, trips of children's and school groups, and socially-focused transportation.

On results of the conference Alexander Khudilainen, Mikhail Akulov and Viktor Stepov also signed the Agreement of Cooperation between the Government of Karelia, Federal Passenger Company JSC and Oktyabrskaya Railway as the branch of Russian Railways JSC. The parties have agreed about development of cooperation in the field of transportations.

On results of signing the documents participants of the meeting have told Russian and Finnish journalists about prospects of introduction of passenger railway communication between Petrozavodsk and towns of East and North Finland. According to Mikhail Akulov, the first trial solo train is expected to go to Finland on the eve of the New Year's holidays. Before that railroaders together with travel agencies and Karelia's Ministry of Youth Affairs, Physical Training, Sports and Tourism will hold corresponding talks and the market research. Constant communication on new routes is planned to open in a year. During this time it will be necessary to reconstruct railway customs stations at the border. As Viktor Stepov pointed out, at the first stage this work will not demand large investments. Later improvement of frontier transport infrastructure should be conducted within the scope of the federal target program State Border of the Russian Federation.

Journalists also asked railroaders whether they are afraid of the competition on the part of automobile carriers. To this question Mikhail Akulov replied that he observes a large pent-up demand in the field of passenger communication as a whole, therefore, railways count on new passengers who will discover opportunities of convenient cross-border trips for themselves. The experience of routes of St.-Petersburg – Helsinki, St.-Petersburg – Moscow and others shows that traffic there grows from year to year disregard of the type of transportation. Therefore, railroaders will have passengers to serve on new directions.

Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen, in turn, has declared, that the republic will do its best to implement the documents signed on September, 25 in Petrozavodsk as soon as possible. "Tourists are first, investors will follow. When cultural exchange is established, economy will advance," – Head of the republic assured.