https://uic.org/timelines/ Standardisation, UIC’s core mission from the beginning... And now with the IRS, a resolutely forward-looking instrument to continue international cooperation among railways and partners.…
Standardisation, UIC’s core mission from the beginning...
And now with the IRS, a resolutely forward-looking instrument to continue international cooperation among railways and partners.
Since the creation of the International Union of Railways in 1922, technical harmonisation has been and is at the heart of UIC’s missions.
The timeline provides a link between UIC’s historical vocation and the current publication of UIC IRSs.
It includes historical facts and milestones in the construction of the railway system, major railway achievements in the 20th century, products and entities created by UIC enabling technical harmonisation.
One of the forthcoming milestones is 2022; until this date, UIC will continue to work actively on the development of the IRS.
To be continued …
1829
The “Rocket” locomotive by George Stephenson reaches 50km/h. Since the origin of railways in Europe during the Industrial Revolution at the beginning of the 19th Century, the speed of passengers trains was an essential argument to compete.
Railways were conceived in the first half of the 19th century, mainly (though not strictly) in the industrialised countries of the time and in a number of overseas territories controlled
by colonial powers. Consequently, it was on a national basis that governments were conce...
1843
The first ever international railway line is that which linked Liège and Cologne in 1843.
1846
In 1846, under the impetus of the Berlin Railway Company, 10 German national authorities founded a Prussian railway association with the aim of streamlining their operations. The following year, the railways from the constituent territories of the German Confederation (44 German networks and four networks from the Austro-Hungarian Empire – including the future Yugoslavia
and a part of the Veneto – operating 5234 and 1630 kilometres of lines respectively), established a Union of German Railway Companies in Hamburg. Subsequently, after th...
1872
From 1872, the European Passenger Train Timetable Conference defined the times of passenger trains, particularly for cross-border operations, as well as the consist of international trains and connections with domestic services. Network representatives met each year with a view to ensuring speedy, punctual, safe and comfortable passenger services.
1875
1882
In August 1882, following the inauguration of the Saint-Gothard Railway which so clearly illustrated the railways’ international calling, the Swiss Federal Council invited the governments from the adjoining states to an international conference of experts on the technical unity of railways. On 21 October 1882, the state representatives signed a protocol ensuring that the rolling stock in compliance with the established standards could circulate on the networks of the member states.
This first conference for the technical unity of railways was...
1919
In 1876 an international union for the exchange of rolling stock was established in Brussels, which was responsible mainly for the repatriation of empty freight cars, the carriage of train parts, the repair of damage, and the payment of bonuses and insurance claims, etc. Members included the railways of Germany, Austro-Hungary, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, who were thus able to supply one another with valuable rolling stock. The system, however, remained a complicated one and so under the impetus of the Italian railways the I...
1919
The beginnings of UIC go back to the period immediately following the First World War. When the Paris Peace Conference took place in early 1919 to prepare the forthcoming Treaty of Versailles, the allied powers entrusted a Commission on the International Regime of Ports, Waterways and Railways with the task of developing a shared set of rules in the area of international transport. An inventory had to be taken of the rolling stock in Central Europe, notably in the now-dismantled Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this rolling stock redistributed.
A...
1920
The Council of the League of Nations (LON), officially formed in 1919 and established in Geneva in 1920, tasked a temporary committee for communication and transit with preparing proposals for “the creation of an organisation which will form part of the LON to address issues related to communication and transit…and to prepare project plans for general international conventions on transit, waterways and if possible railways.”
The documents prepared by the temporary committee of the LON, including the international regime of railways, were stud...
1921
The international conference in Genoa (April – May 1922) proposed that the standardisation of European railways be
accelerated by conferring the continued management of this issue, previously given to diplomats, on the network operators.
And it was France which found itself entrusted with the task of preparing an international conference scheduled to take place that same autumn, with the aim of founding a permanent railway institution endowed with broad competences, though not necessarily rivalling other existing bodies. All the main Fren...
1921
The conference of Portorose in Italy (now Portorož in Slovenia), which in late 1921 declared itself in favour of an “association” of railways, took place at a seaside resort in modern-day Slovenia in the aftermath of a war that saw the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of several states (some of which would later form Yugoslavia). The railways which had been established under the Empire fell under various national jurisdictions but technical cooperation remained as vital as ever.
It was thus on the shores of the Adri...
1922
The Paris Conference was held from 17 to 20 October 1922 at the headquarters of the French Society of Civil Engineers, with the participation of 27 countries and 46 networks as well as two representatives from the League of Nations. With the exception of Finland which could not attend, all the European countries were represented bar Russia, whose pronouncement came in December 1922. Also present were the delegations of China and Japan, which boded well for the nascent organisation’s potential influence.
The German secretary of state for co...
1923
The International Union of Railways – the nascent UIC – was composed of three management bodies: a General Assembly, an Executive Board comprising 12 members and the chairman (whose mandate began the same day), and a permanent general secretariat based in Paris. At the proposal of the British delegate, Alfred Mange was appointed chairman and the three vice-chairmanships were given to Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Five permanent committees were also formed (Passenger, Freight, Accounts and Exchange, Rolling Stock Exchange and Technical Is...
1923
24 rue Georges Bizet was the first UIC Headquarters building until January 1931, when UIC moved to 10 rue de Prony, 75017.
© Photorail – SNCF
1926
In July 1923, the International Union of Railways (UIC) was officially pronounced an association formed in accordance with the French law of 1901. In 1926, it acquired a logo which would be re-worked or updated on several occasions – in 1950, 1985, 2003 and most recently in 2010 (the new visual identity adopted in 2010 combines the logo in its new colour scheme underpinning all UIC activities.)
1931
10 rue de Prony was the second UIC headquarters building from January 1931 to 1963, then UIC moved to 116 rue Jean rey, Paris 15°.
© Photorail – SNCF
1932
The work carried out within the five permanent technical committees resulted in the publication of “UIC leaflets”, technical documents whose application was either obligatory or optional. These technical leaflets constituted the beginning of an international railway “code”, also known in practice as the “UIC Code”. Initially published in French and German (with an English version also available today), these leaflets formed part of the “set of UIC decisions”. In 1932, there were 103 leaflets and by 1938 this figure had reached 197. Currently, the...
1939
Amongst the subjects benefiting from technical cooperation and international harmonisation were the conditions governing the use of
continuous braking ; the safety of vehicles operating under catenaries; new signalling standards; the study of the risks run by railway staff ; the easing of financial exchange between railway companies (following a UIC decision adopted in 1924, a Central Compensation Office, the BCC, was established in Brussels in 1925, and its management entrusted to the Belgian railways. )
UIC’s harmonisation work extended...
1949
Interfrigo (a refrigerated and temperature-controlled transport company founded in 1949) and Intercontainer, an international combined transport company (known today as ICF: Intercontainer-Interfrigo); and the Europabus grouping, comprising the
international tourist coach services operated by 14 railway companies. The European Pallet Pool (EPP) and the European Box Pallet Pool (EBPP) managed the participating networks’ stocks of these items. In passenger traffic, a joint operations pool was formed for night traffic (sleeping cars).
1949
In 1949, the United Nations Organisation (Economic and Social Council) granted UIC consultative status to the UN to represent the railway sector worldwide. This administrative act was of symbolic value: it was the first mandate given to UIC by the international community to represent and promote this mode of transport in all regions of the world. Today this international aspect constitutes one of the core strategies for the development of UIC’s role and the strengthening of its activities. It is particularly worth mentioning the fruitful cooperat...
1950
The company Eurofima, was formed in 1956 by 13 networks to facilitate the financing of rolling stock acquisition and conversion;
1950
In the area of technical study and research, UIC created its Office for Research and Experiments (ORE) in 1950 in Utrecht (Netherlands). The latter was in charge of carrying out studies for the purposes of standardisation and, more generally, any studies and experimentation work necessary for the projects coordinated by UIC. To successfully complete its work, ORE was able to use its members’ testing and experimentation facilities.
In addition, it owned its own climatic testing station in Vienna Arsenal to test railway rolling stock and equipm...
1951
The EUROP WagonPool, a European operations pool initially bringing together the railways of France and Germany, and subsequently expanding to include a dozen or so networks; the famous Trans-Europ Express (TEE) grouping, born of a Dutch initiative with seven participating networks and 13 routes launched in 1957.
1956
in 1956, under the impetus of the Soviet Union, the socialist countries created the Organization for Cooperation between
Railways (OSJD in Russian), headquartered in Warsaw. Most of the OSJD member railways (bar the USSR, North Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba, etc.) were also members of UIC; this was notably the case of all of OSJD’s European members. During the period of the iron curtain, the railways of Central and Eastern Europe – OSJD members – actively participated alongside the western railways in the work of practically all the UIC techn...
1958
The creation in 1958, against the backdrop of the signing of the Treaty of Rome (1957), of a high-quality Trans Europ Express (TEE) network remains a significant milestone in the development of a trans-European rail network serving the citizens of this new community, offering passengers uniform quality standards on all the connections served by these trains
1960
Under the impetus of its passenger and freight commercial committees, UIC defined train networks with a European seal of approval, which offered customers standardised quality criteria on all the connections served by these trains. For freight, this was the Trans-Europe Express Freight network (TEEM, formed in 1961) and EurailCargo in the 1980s.
1961
1963
The current headquarters of the international railway organisation at 16 rue Jean Rey, an exceptional
location near the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars, were inaugurated in 1963.
1963
On 20 September 1960, the chairman of the German Railways Heinz Maria Oeftering, who had succeeded Louis Armand as UIC chairman, laid the foundation stone of the new building, accompanied by the then SNCF chairman André Ségalat. Construction of the new headquarters was part-financed by loans from 11 railways, and a number of networks offered contributions such as fixtures and works of art to adorn the building. The new headquarters were inaugurated on 29 May 1963 in the presence of UIC chairman Hugo Gschwind from the Swiss Federal Railways and Lo...
1963
The current headquarters of the International Union of Railways (UIC), located at 16, rue Jean Rey in Paris’ 15th district, and near the Champs de Mars, was inaugurated in 1963. It is UIC’s third headquarters building, having previously been located at rue Bizet and rue de Prony. One particularly interesting initiative deserves a mention here: when the current headquarters was being built, the majority of the association’s member companies offered contributions in kind such as works of art, traditional objects from their countries, or other fitti...
1964
The advantages of high speed rail operations were first identified during the period prior to the Second World War, in particular in the light of the technical progress made in the areas of electric traction and aerodynamics. Following further developments in electrical supply and traction during the 1950s (it is worth mentioning the world rail speed records broken by SNCF on France’s south-west line), the idea of operating genuine “high speed trains” came to fruition when the Tokaido Shinkansen “bullet trains” entered service in October 1964 on...
1972
1972
The InterRail pass, heavily associated with the idea of international mobility and freedom of young travellers, was established at UIC in 1972 to mark the association’s 50th anniversary. The InterRail pass has considerably evolved in format to adapt to new market circumstances, but it still exists today and is run in partnership between UIC and the Council of Europe (InterRail revenue finances a European fund for the mobility of young travellers). The EurailPass and EuroDomino, both commercial products for passengers, were also born of initiative...
1978
© Christophe Recoura
1981
In 1981, the TGV Sud-Est was opened on the new Paris-Lyon line, covering 417 km and operating at speeds of up to 270 km/hr. It was followed by the TGV Atlantique (1989 – 1990), travelling at 300 km/hr, and the TGV Nord in 1993. The first routes in both Japan and France were undertaken as national (domestic) projects, meeting the need for intercity transport. UIC became involved very early on in the promotion of high speed rail. Louis Armand, initially in his capacity as SNCF chairman – and UIC chairman – had, since the 1950s, made network electri...
1987
For passengers, the EuroCity (EC, launched in 1987) and Trans-Euro Night (TEN) trains offered these uniform quality standards.
1990
At the instigation of UIC and under the aegis of the European Union, the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) was set up at the beginning of the 1990s. ERTMS comprises ETCS, the European Train Control System, and GSM-R, a radio communiation system specifically for railways. The idea was to create “double interoperability”: geographical interoperability so a train equipped with this system could run on a track equipped with the same system, and interoperability between manufacturers so that a train built by one manufacturer could run on...
1992
With implementation of GSM-R now well underway on Europe’s railways, and worldwide interest beyond its frontiers, the ERTMS/GSM-R project of the UIC has the task of maintaining the GSM-R specifications, developed under the EIRENE project, managing the UIC roll-out plan for the system and handling issues and problems that arise as the work is progressing.
Through its working groups, the ERTMS/GSM-R project brings together existing and future implementers of GSM-R, assisting the former in realising their objectives and keeping the latter – a...
1994
Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand inaugurated the Channel Tunnel on 6 may 1994. Inauguration Eurostar train sets left from London and Paris and made for the first time a junction in Calais.
1996
C Christophe Recoura
1997
2002
EIM, established in Brussels in 2002, also has as its aim the development of rail transport, advisory work to the European institutions on
rail-related policy areas, and supporting bodies such as the European Railway Agency (ERA). UIC, whose members include both CER and EIM members, brings its contribution to bear in the shape of its technical expertise wherever this is needed in handling an area of European rail policy, in particular regarding interoperability, safety and research. A promising cooperative arrangement was set in place in 2009...
2007
© Hervé Aubert
2009
The new statutes dispel all the ambiguities which had led to the prior dysfunction. They uphold the (unique) global calling of UIC, thus ending the Europe/World dichotomy, and define clear rules of governance. The General Assembly, which brings together all 200 members, constitutes the singular governing body of UIC, and applies a weighted decision-making system reflecting member participation in the life of UIC. The Executive Board, still composed of 21 members with geographic representation, is an advisory body in charge of steering those of UI...
2009
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing the common principles of a certification system of the Entities in Charge of Maintenance (ECM) of Freight Wagons has been signed under patronage of the European Union, on May 14th 2009, in the premises of B-Holding, between 10 EU Members States.
This MoU follows on the work carried out between the European Railway Agency and the railway sector associations (UIC, UIP, ERFA, CER), in the perspective of the implementation of Directive (EC) No 20081110 amending Directive 2004/49 (EC) about Railw...
2010
2010
On 5 November 2009 the UIC members signed a joint declaration stating that rail was part of the solution to combat CO2 emissions in the transport sector and that UIC and its members were committed to further strengthen their efforts in this area. The declaration was symbolically carried by train from Kyoto to Brussels before rejoining the Climate Express.
Despite the disappointing outcome of the Copenhagen conference – in which players had placed high hopes – the campaign organised by UIC around the Train to Copenhagen and Climate Express ini...
2013
2013
2013
China is nevertheless keen to diversify its trading routes and in 2013 launched the project “One Belt, One Road”, aimed at stepping up connectivity and integrating trade routes with those of Eurasia. The project, which includes maritime and land components, as well as of course the New Silk Roads, is a major focus for the development of Chinese trade in the decades to come.
Rail is part of a continuum including sea, land and air transport. Aware of the advantages of rail transport but also of its limits, UIC has always advocated a policy o...
2014
The ATTI SG is a UIC special group within the Freight Forum. It is made up of RUs, some of which are UIC members and some of which are not. It works on an independent basis, with only the General Assembly determining its remit.The ATTI SG sets the rules governing the transfer of wagons between participating RUs; these are based on the GCU? (General Contract of Use for Wagons). In order to facilitate international freight transport, the participating RUs undertake to comply with the current internal regulations, including appendices. The objective...
2014
Multiple East-West Railway Integrated Timetable Storage
MERITS is a single database containing timetable data for many different railway companies. The data is integrated and reproduced twice a week. MERITS is designed to provide rapid access for each railway company to all the data needed to produce timetables and to operate with a single source of data, thereby doing away with large volumes of multilateral exchanges.
The MERITS timetable data consists of:
Use of MERITS data...
2015
Japan’s maglev train broke its own world speed record just days after it broke its previous 12-year-old record. The seven-car magnetic levitation train set a world record on 21 April when it hit 603km/hour and maintained this speed for 11 seconds. The train beat the 590km/hour speed it had set the previous week in another test. The maglev hovers 10cm above the tracks and is propelled by electrically charged magnets.
Central Japan Railways (JR Central), which owns the trains, wants to introduce the maglev service between Tokyo and Nagoya, 2...
2015
On 30 November, UIC officially launched the UIC Railway Digital Platform in the presence of more than 250 participants, including CEOs of UIC Members, representatives of railway research and railway activities, heads of digital activities within railway companies, journalists, etc. The conference was also available via streaming so that representatives of the digital ecosystem could follow the conference through a live broadcast and ask the speakers questions.
The interconnection of persons and objects through the Internet weaves a close c...
2016
The geographical area covered by UIC has constantly expanded since 1922. Beyond the initial group of 51 members comprising the railways of Europe and physically connected regions – Near and Middle-East, the Maghreb and Asia (the core of “active members”) – UIC has gradually established cooperative links with railways on all continents, either directly or through the ministry with responsibility for rail transport or regional associations: Association of American Railroads in the United States, African Union of Railways and Arab Union
of Railw...
2016
In the context of steadily growing international tourism, TopRail is a UIC project that actively promotes railway tourism products by increasing the visibility of service offerings. This is accomplished by fostering close collaboration between stakeholders and their customers to encourage railway tourism opportunities. Railway tourism is able to offer a wide range of tourism alternatives combining exclusivity, technology, luxury and sustainability whilst contributing to fostering local economies.
In 2016, UIC launched ...
2018
The development of different Hyperloop initiatives in various regions of the world have raised some recurring questions, which address both technical and business aspects, as well as standardisation issues.
UIC, as a worldwide transport forum, has identified the potential of Hyperloop systems as a new and disruptive guided ground system mode and is taking the initiative to organise meetings on the subject.
In relation to the abovementioned, on 27 November, a bilateral meeting took place between UIC and some of the companies that are...
2019
The first Global FRMCS Conference took place on 14-15 May 2019 in Paris, UIC headquarters.
This conference will be a unique opportunity to know about the current status of FRMCS specification and standardisation, to understand the global timeline of its introduction and to consider the operational impacts of the foreseen migration scenarios. It will also provide a global vision of the various rail evolutions that will benefit from this new system as a common support to train modernisation.
A global atte...
2019
UIC IRS on Rail Freight Forward Contingency Management handbook
In 2019, UIC published the Contingency Management handbook for Railway Undertakings. This handbook was committed to by the Rail Freight Forward coalition (RFF), as mentioned in its vision paper “30 by 2030”. It outlines harmonised international contingency measures whenever major disruptions happen on the European Railway network. In 2020, UIC standardised the handbook into an International Railway Solution. As such, it is available for free via the UIC web sh...
2020
UIC, with the support of Hit Rail B.V, has developed a project for the provision of its Electronic Ticket Control Database (ETCD). The new service vastly improves the ability of railway companies to issue and control rail passenger tickets across a number of countries and will increase security and help prevent fraud.
Under the new ETCD service, UIC now offers a centralised, real-time passenger ticket control system for use by railway companies around the world. The aim is the online exchange of ticket control information between ticket is...
2020
In 2020, UIC completed the procurement process for the implementation of the PRIFIS replacement tool and the design of the new related specification called Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM). The OSDM Platform replaces the former PRIFIS international tariff distribution tool, a shared database containing prices and tariffs for non-reservation tickets. 36 railways upload their prices and tariffs twice a year.
The OSDM Platform is a Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud-based solution. Its architecture enables the ongoing introduction of...
2021
An online webinar, “Autonomous Technologies in Rail – Anticipating Expectations” was held on 9 June with over 400 registered participants, bringing together experts from four continents who shared their experience in research, development and implementation of autonomous railway systems for passengers and freight.
Participants were provided with an overview during the webinar of a large variety of potential use cases and current and future research topics: ...
2021
Digital automatic coupling (DAC) is one of the key elements for transformation of the European rail freight sector. The DAC will increase productivity, efficiency and service quality, either directly or as an enabler, thereby increasing competitiveness. Together with smart capacity increases, DAC will be a game changer in shifting more freight traffic to the European rail system, facilitating the Green Deal, improving workers’ safety and creating value for Europe.
It is an opportunity to share insights on current project development. In re...
2022
HERMES constituted the first project
designed to connect member railways’ IT
systems. The first set of functionalities
related to centralised traffic management,
electronic seat reservation, etc
2022
2022
UIC also promotes rail transport worldwide through a chain of international events, congresses, conferences and seminars, tackling specific issues in railway development. Depending on their subject, these events may be aimed at political and economic decision-makers, representatives of international and regional organisations, investors, manufacturers and universities from around the globe. Among the international events organised by or in collaboration with UIC, several have become global benchmarks for the professional railway community.
...2022
Horizon 2020 and Shift2Rail are just two of the projects where universities
are directly involved in partnership with UIC. We could also mention ERRAC (European Rail Research Advisory Council), the technical platform set up by the European Union to cater for the needs of its members with regard
to rail research, which plays a crucial role. Incidentally, UIC also collaborates
indirectly with the universities as a member of the ERRAC.
Shift2Rail aims to optimise rail in Europe through innovation and research.
2022
2022
2022
2022
UIC records descriptions of significant railway accidents in its Safety Database. All UIC members are invited to participate on a voluntary basis.
The Safety Database contains information on more than 40,000 accidents in 33 countries.
For further information, please visit the dedicated website: https://safetydb.uic.org
2022
RailData is a special group of the International union of railways (UIC).
The main purpose of RailData is to develop and run central IT systems for European freight railway undertakings.
There are currently five main IT systems in production:
CoReDa and ATTI are provided as services for other UIC study groups (e.g. Wagon Users and ATTI).
2022
The International Union of Railways (UIC) is pleased to announce the launch of the 2022 edition of the competition which celebrates excellence in Railway publications.
Following on from the success of previous events, the scope of this one is extended to a wider range of documents.
The aim is to support and promote excellence in user-friendly, business-sensitive publications that support the efficiency of railway operations. This can include technical specifications and/or requirements, guidelines and operational solutions whether t...
2022
The Rail Sustainability Index (RSi) is a new tool being designed for and with the global rail community. The previously named ‘SDG Rail Index’ tool will provide the UIC members with a unique rating system and a supportive digital platform based on the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations to assess the performance of each railway based on a selection of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
The Rail Sustainability Index is designed to provide UIC members with:
All UIC members are in...
