OREANDA-NEWS. March 21, 2013.  The award ceremony for winners of the Towards the Future! awards has been held in Sochi.

The award was created to celebrate the achievements of participants in preparing and conducting the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games to be held in Sochi in 2014 in the areas of social, environmental and economic development and to promote the ideas and principles of sustainable development among the general public.

Russian Railways won the Company of the Year award.

Projects of Sochi-2014 partner companies, city and regional administrations, the construction company Olympstroy and non-profit organisations took part in the competition.

The winners were selected by an expert panel of judges comprised of Vitaly Smirnov, a member of the IOC, Alexander Tkachev, Governor of Krasnodar Territory, Anatoly Pakhomov, Mayor of Sochi, Vladimir Lukin, President of the Russian Paralympic Committee, and Dmitry Chernyshenko, President of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, as well as representatives of Russia's relevant ministries and agencies, sustainable development experts and Sochi-2014 ambassadors consisting of famous athletes and artists.

Oleg Toni, Vice-President at Russian Railways, accepted the prize for Company of the Year from Dmitry Kozak, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, who noted the need to conduct such activities to highlight the results and achievements of the companies involved in the preparation of the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

Oleg Toni thanked the participants in the ceremony for their appreciation of the role Russian Railways was playing in developing transport infrastructure in Sochi. "I am sure that thanks to Russian Railways, living and spending your holidays in Sochi will become even more comfortable and convenient," he said.

Russian Railways was also awarded first prize in the category "Best Complex Project of the Year" for its contribution to the construction of the combined (road and rail) link Adler - Alpika-Service mountain resort for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. This link enables athletes and passengers to get from Adler to the Krasnaya Polyana mountain stadiums and ice palaces at the Olympic Park in less than for half an hour.

The combined link also won an award for achievements in implementing innovative eco-efficient solutions in the design and construction of Olympic facilities in the category "Best Example of Environmental Management and Environmental Protection During the Construction Period" for its implementation of a comprehensive plan to restore the landscape and ecosystem around the Mzymta River.