UIC and SNCF met last week at UIC headquarters for a high-level exchange to discuss several topics of interest. SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou and UIC Director General François Davenne took a convergent view on the need to develop a robust narrative for the railways. They both agreed that with the opening up of competition in Europe, an important objective is to obtain a bigger piece of the pie ‒ in other words, increase market share for railways and improve modal shift towards rail.

Recognising the significant opportunity and associated challenges for railways in the coming decade, François Davenne said: “We are very aware at UIC of the competition aspect, and it is imperative to be able to work on the core technical solutions that will make railways attractive to the end user. But we must work quickly on these topics – the 136 UIC working groups are being geared up to face these challenges and to be highly proactive in responding to business and operational needs for the railways”.

Mr Farandou and Mr Davenne agreed that UIC’s role, not only in Europe but also further afield, is to identify and develop synergies of benefit to the entire railway community, and to publish the results.