Enhancing cooperation between railway stakeholders to improve safety culture: this is the aim of the new Twinning II European project.

Under the aegis of the European Commission’s DG MOVE, and coordinated by the UIC safety team with more than 20 participants, this project demonstrates the will to work on safety culture in a new way, reinforcing the exchange of information based on members’ experience. The peer reviews provide a quality operational exchange mechanism for collaboration on the key topic of safety culture in the railway sector.

The consortium is composed of CFL cargo (RU), Irish Rail (IM), Infrabel (IM), SNCF Réseau (IM), EPSF (FR, NSA), ACF (LU, NSA), Trenitalia France (RU), DB Cargo France (RU), LISEA (IM), ÖBB (IM) and UIC (coordinator). The advisory board includes the NIB Management Committee and ERA Ops/Safety.

The objectives of the project are to:

• develop safety awareness, culture and commitment within organisations, with a focus on training activities,
• identify and share technical failures and behavioural variabilities in operational activities that may be critical to safety,
• share strategies and techniques for effective analysis of incident and accident data,
• share knowledge on safety systems, processes, tools, and behaviour.

A further project aim is to achieve consensus on best practices and develop a guide for national and international exchange between peers as a project output.