The UIC Rail System Forum Energy Sector and the Sustainability Platform Energy Efficiency and CO2 Sector are joining forces and invite you to join the launch of the Energy Saving Task Force.
With recent soaring energy prices in many countries and the increasing insecurity of energy supply, UIC invites you to join a focused and collective effort to seek effective ways to reduce energy use on the railways.
Railways are often one of the largest consumers of electricity in their country, with demand matching overall peak energy demand times. Railways also use large volumes of diesel in locomotives as well as in their large road fleet. As big energy users, when railways make small changes, they can make a big difference. The European Commission, with the International Energy Agency, have appealed to businesses to both engage employees in finding energy efficiency opportunities as well as to facilitate networking of multiple companies to simultaneously develop their energy audits or energy management systems, sharing best practices, or joint training.
UIC, as the technical platform for railway cooperation at world level, is the place of exchange on best practices, bringing together many networks of experts of various sectors of at least the Railway Undertakings and Infrastructure Managers. UIC Rail System Forum and Sustainability Platform have a track record in finding solutions to save energy such as the project SFERA, proposing the SFERA protocol as an important enabler for energy saving. The spread of projects like these and other practical ideas have an important role in tackling this crisis and contributing to more resilient transport systems.
This Task Force aims to identify ways to reduce energy consumption in the railways. The identified solutions will be divided into:
- Short term measures to be implemented quickly
- Longer term solutions that need more time to be developed in projects and put into place.
This Task Force will be co-shared by Lucie Anderton, Head of Sustainability and Christian Chavanel, Director of Rail System. It will be composed of UIC member companies, with all relevant stakeholders, such as those who have a strong knowledge in operations. The Task Force will give its members and partners the possibility to exchange information to find solutions adapted to the railway sector and classified according to 2 axes:
- Efficiency of the solution = impact on the energy consumption
- Ease of deployment of the solution = time and means needed
The UIC Energy Saving Task Force will meet online to launch the work on 24 November 2022 from 2.30 to 5.30 pm CET, identifying key areas of investigation, approaches to working together, key first actions and actors. The taskforce will organise regular webinars and in person events to share information, brainstorm ideas and agree collective actions to work together on projects. It will collect and compile information on this subject and will issue documents to list concrete measures and guidelines. You can already save the date of the Energy Saving workshop to be held on 1st March 2023 at the UIC Headquarters in Paris.
If you wish to participate in this task force, please fill in the form or/and share this with contacts of yours who can help towards this collective effort: https://uic.org/events/registration-to-the-uic-energy-saving-task-force
