IRS 70778-3 received an award from the UIC Standardisation Unit in the “Business oriented” category. The working group responsible for updating recommendations for masonry arch bridges and the new IRS was led by Professor Zoltán Orbán of the University of Pécs Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology within the Department of Civil Engineering. Top experts from universities and railway infrastructure managers have discussed the various relevant aspects within the working group over the past few years. The IRS background documents are also available from the ETF Shop: “Catalogue of damages in masonry arch bridges”, “Guides for execution and control of repairs –Cleaning manual” and “Guides for execution and control of repairs – Maintenance and replacement of existing masonry”.

The Standardisation Award honours the efforts of the working group members and their work over the past number of years. The UIC award demonstrates the organisation’s appreciation for the work of its member experts. It also provides additional motivation and incentives for future working groups to deliver their best in each field. Resources are increasingly limited, and there is a real need for such motivation.

The work of this group began with its first project in 2003 and culminated in the preparation of the IRS in 2016, followed by some editorial work. The first edition of the IRS was published in 2018. Following publication, the UIC Panel of Structural Experts (PoSE) offered three workshops for continuous education in this field, in Madrid (June 2018), Bristol (October 2018) and Pécs (October 2019). The workshop in Bristol was recorded and is available on YouTube.

As the UIC unit responsible for this project, PoSE is very proud of the award, which recognises its efforts in working on this area and preparing the document. Thanks also go to the editorial team at UIC and ETF for publishing the document, supporting the workshops and creating the videos.