Russian Railways has decided what to do with animals found on trains
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The Russian Railways company has developed an algorithm for the actions of employees in the event of animals found without owners on a train: the situation should be controlled by the head of the train, and the pet will travel to the nearest large station in a special carrier in the headquarters car. Deputy General Director of Russian Railways Ivan Kolesnikov announced this during a meeting of the working group on improving the rules for transporting passengers with animals in transport in the State Duma. The reason for the changes in safety standards was the resonant story of the cat Twix, who was dropped off in the cold by a guide. Animal rights activists propose to make it mandatory for traveling with animals by rail within the country to have veterinary documents – a pet passport. However, Russian Railways told Kommersant that such a requirement is not being considered yet.
On Wednesday, the State Duma held a meeting of the working group to improve the rules for transporting passengers with animals in transport. During the event, Deputy General Director of Russian Railways Ivan Kolesnikov announced several important changes that the state monopoly is preparing in this service segment. In particular, Mr. Kolesnikov said, all conductors of passenger trains have already been familiarized with the new instructions containing a ban on disembarking animals from trains. The company has also developed an algorithm for action when an animal without an owner is detected in its area of responsibility. “If the owner is not found, the animal will be placed in a carrier equipped with staff cars, and at the nearest large station it will be handed over to the station employees,” said a representative of Russian Railways. “The whole process will be personally controlled by the head of the train.”
The reason for revising the transport company’s policy was the story of the cat Twix, which became one of the most discussed topics in society. Let’s remember that in January, the conductor dropped a cat off the Yekaterinburg-St. Petersburg train, deciding that the animal had run into the carriage at the station. The cat died. The Environmental Committee of the State Duma subsequently formed a working group to improve the rules for transporting passengers with animals in various modes of transport. At the first meeting, representatives of Russian Railways admitted the imperfection of internal instructions in the event of such emergency situations and promised to improve them.
In particular, the company is going to improve the digital application for conductors, with the help of which employees will be able to track which passenger is transporting an animal and which one.
Mr. Kolesnikov assured on Wednesday that internal regulations “regulating the process of determining the status of discovered animals will be approved as soon as possible after the meeting in the State Duma.”
The first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s environmental committee, Vladimir Burmatov (ER), who heads the working group, suggested that Russian Railways work out the animal identification system in as much detail as possible so that it would operate effectively on commuter trains. According to the parliamentarian, it is on electric trains that a huge number of pets are lost during the summer season.
Later, in a conversation with Kommersant, Mr. Burmatov explained that the working group received the largest number of proposals from carriers and from social activists specifically on the topic of pet identification. The parliamentarian recalled that issues of registering pets are now regulated by the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and more than 20 regions have already developed appropriate approaches. The coordinated work of Russian Railways, canine associations and authorities will help simplify the registration of pets, Mr. Burmatov is sure: “We propose to Russian Railways to unite the existing bases and are ready to provide assistance.” Moreover, improving the rules for transporting pets is beneficial to transport companies, because “it attracts new passengers,” the deputy believes. Nevertheless, the State Duma insists that reforming the system should not lead to increased costs for animal owners.
“It’s sad that the positive dynamics of changes in the field of treatment of animals is often a consequence of a fatal incident that resulted in the death or suffering of an animal,” noted Olga Kelly, director of the Bereginya center for helping homeless animals. The animal rights activist adds that “mandatory registration of pets could significantly help, including in the event of loss in transport, and would also allow owners to be found faster.” Specialist of the Animal Welfare Association Kamila Khodieva notes that traveling with animals by rail within the country, unlike air travel, does not require accompanying veterinary documents: “Strict control of the presence of a pet passport, even when traveling within the Russian Federation, would be an additional motivation for animal owners conduct a clinical examination of your pet and do not neglect periodic vaccination.”
The press service of JSC Russian Railways reported to Kommersant that the discussed adjustments to internal instructions do not yet contain the mentioned proposal.
They also noted that the reason for changes in transportation conditions, as a rule, are not high-profile incidents, but customer suggestions.
“The requirements are constantly being relaxed,” the company notes, “since 2015, it has been allowed to travel with an animal in reserved seats and seated carriages, then high-class carriages have been added to the list, since 2018 it is possible to transport animals on long-distance trains without the accompaniment of their owners, and the list of animals permitted for transportation is also constantly expanding, taking into account the wishes of passengers.”
It should be noted that the rules for transporting animals are regularly changed by participants in the aviation industry, and precisely after scandalous incidents with pets. One of the last such conflicts took place in 2019. The owner managed to transport the cat Victor in the cabin of an Aeroflot plane, despite the fact that he weighed 500 g more than allowed. After this, the air carrier deprived the passenger who admitted to violating the rules of bonus miles. The situation caused a serious public outcry; as a result, a number of airlines changed the rules: some increased the allowance for carriage in the cabin, others allowed the purchase of the next seat for the pet.
Mr. Burmatov noted that at the next meetings of the working group he will expect detailed proposals from Russian Railways on the transportation of animals on commuter trains, and from airlines – the results of work to create opportunities for transporting animals of different weights in the cabin.
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