A journey of international environmental experts across Russia’s railways, part of the international Train to Copenhagen project, is continuing. The project is organised by International Union of Railways (UIC) and Russian Railways, and supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the WWF.
On 27 November, a presentation was given to the participants on the environmental protection activities carried out by Western Siberian Railways. The presentation was attended by Galina Bykova, the Deputy Chair of the Novosibirsk Municipal Committee for Environmental Protection, and Vera Glukhova, the Head of Western Siberian Railways’ Environmental Protection Department.
Vera Glukhova spoke about the work being carried out along the Western Siberian Railway to reduce negative environmental consequences. In the first nine months of 2009, pollution released into the atmosphere has been reduced by 393.9 tonnes and waste water disposal has been reduced by 23.6 cubic metres. This has been achieved by the construction and repair of local cleansing facilities and by introducing a water recycling system. Vera Glukhova said that future plans included the continuing construction of water cleansing facilities, moving from boilers to environmentally sound fuel, fitting pollution emitters with dust and gas filtering facilities, and introducing recycling for waste.
Galina Bykova underlined the fact that rail transport is the most environmentally friendly way to travel: “The railways do not bring environmental pollution into the cities, and there are forested zones and sanitary protection zones. Suburban rail transport is competitive with road transport, and many passengers prefer the environmentally friendly option. This reduces the pollution from car and bus exhausts in the cities and suburban areas.”
After the meeting, the project participants visited a mobile environmental laboratory at Novosibirsk’s main station. The laboratory was set up to carry out environmental monitoring.
Participants’ impressions from the journey can be read on the site www.traintocopenhagen.org
