OREANDA-NEWS. April 26, 2011. Russian Railways intends to spend 187 million roubles on developing 84 technical standards in 2011, says Valentin Gapanovich, Senior Vice-President at Russian Railways, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

Gapanovich was speaking at the conference "Issues in Developing and Harmonising Technical Regulations: Creating a System of Technical Regulation in the Customs Union and Common Economic Space."

The conference was held during Russian Business Week under the auspices of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow.

According to Gapanovich, the Company is playing an active role in implementing the reform of technical regulation at both the national and inter-governmental level.

At the initiative of Russian Railways, a Memorandum of Cooperation on harmonising technical regulations in the 1520 broad-gauge track space was signed in Sochi by the rail administrations of the CIS states and Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on 28 May 2009.

Draft technical regulations covering rail transport in the Customs Union have now been completed after passing through all the necessary stages and procedures and were agreed at national level by Russia and Belarus at the end of March this year. They are expected to be approved at the next meeting of the Customs Union Commission.

The biggest outstanding issue will be the preparation of supporting regulatory standards that contain a full range of specific security and safety rules covering rail transport and its infrastructure, as well as the establishment of reliable methods to ensure their compliance.

Valentin Gapanovich also noted that Russian Railways is making a significant contribution to financing the development of these standards.

However, Belarusian Railways is now also contributing to financing, along with the Association of Rail Equipment Manufacturers, a non-commercial partnership, and other organisations.