The 13th meeting of the UIC Covid-19 Task Force was attended remotely on 20 October 2020 by around 50 participants from across the globe.
Marc Guigon, Coordinator of the Task Force, welcomed the participants and gave an update on the situation, the latest figures related to the Task Force members and the latest RAILsilience guidance documents.
A series of interesting presentations were then delivered by representatives from Deutsche Bahn AG, ERA (EU Agency for Railways), Eurnex E.V. and UIC.
The key themes of the presentations included:
- Infection risks on long-distance train journeys and studies on infection rates
- Ventilation in railway vehicles
- Research in rail transport and the challenges ahead in the framework of Covid-19
- Economic impact of Covid-19 and progress on the work regarding UIC’s second estimate
Philippe Lorand, UIC Senior Advisor and member of the internal Task Force team, gave an update on the work regarding the Economic impact of Covid-19 and progress on the work regarding the post Covid period, the new normal. The aim of the estimate is to provide figures per region for the mid-to long-term, forecasts on mobility trends and prospects for the railways in the future.
Laura Petersen, UIC Senior Security Advisor, presented the members with the latest questions included in the fourth questionnaire and asked the Task Force members to complete the document as soon as possible. The information will of course remain confidential.
Concluding words were given by Marc Guigon, who thanked the participants and once again underlined the importance of providing feedback for the forthcoming questionnaire. He announced that the next meeting of the Task Force would be in November, and after that in January.
All guidance documents can be consulted on UIC’s dedicated Covid-19 webpage, which is regularly updated with the latest video, news articles, webinars and other audiovisual material: https://uic.org/covid-19
As a reminder, the Task Force LinkedIn group is open to members. Feel free to join the group and share your thoughts: https://lnkd.in/eEKqfW2
The next Task Force web-conference is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 24 November 2020.
