On 15 June 2023, the launch conference for the 15th edition of ILCAD was held at the Royal Castle of Warsaw, Poland. It was officially opened by prominent speakers, with UIC President, Krzysztof Mamiński, President of the Management Board of Polskie Koleje Państwowe and the PKP Group stating that “ILCAD is an event that brings together great minds, leaders in the railway industry, and experts from around the world. Today, here, we meet to share our experiences, present the latest technological achievements, and discuss the future of railways…. I believe that thanks to our commitment, determination, and cooperation, we will achieve our goals. Together, we can create a better future for railways where safety is an integral part of what we do.”

The other high-level presenters who opened the conference were Maciej Małecki, Vice-Minister of Polish State Assets, Tomasz Rurka, Deputy Head of the Department of Railways at the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure, and Katarzyna Kucharek, CEO of the PKP Group Foundation, and Vice-Chair of the UIC Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN).
 
Isabelle Fonverne, Senior Safety Advisor, welcomed all of the delegates to the 15th edition of ILCAD on behalf of UIC, underscoring how the first ever ILCAD launch conference took place in Warsaw in June 2011, alongside the UIC General Assembly.

Paweł Rafalski, Head of the President’s Office, spoke on behalf of Dr Ing. Ignacy Góra, President of the Office Rail Transport (UTK), presenting “Level crossing safety approaches in Poland”.

Daniel Biernacik, Train Driver at PKP Intercity S.A., representing the Polish Trade Union of Railway Drivers and the Federation of European Train Driver Unions (ALE), shared information “Level crossing safety from a Polish train driver’s perspective”.

Next the topics of data, risk assessments, investigations, engineering, engagement, training, education and community outreach were discussed with the following speakers:

Dr Julián Obaid, President of Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte (the Argentinian National Transport Safety Authority) gave a presentation on the “Situation of agro-industrial level crossings in Argentina and investigations by the National Department of Railway Incidents”.

Papa Malick Samb, les Grands Trains du Senegal (the national Senegalese railway undertaking), examined “Rail Safety and the reality in Senegal”.

Joey de Mol, Senior Policy Officer, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Netherlands, considered ”Enhancing railway safety: creating stakeholder awareness through data and insights”.

Robert Wainwright, Head of Public Safety, Network Rail, UK, gave a talk on ”Managing the risks presented by agricultural and industrial users of level crossings in the UK”.

Olle Mornell, Senior Level Crossing Advisor, Trafikverket, Sweden, discussed “Alex, no more ‘locked-unlocked’ gates”.

Virginie Taillandier, Project Manager, SNCF, presented the status of “Level crossing issues on regional lines”.

Dr Starr Kidda, Human Factors Division Chief Office of Research, Development, and Technology U.S. DOT Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and Dr Przemyslaw Rakoczy, Senior Rail Research Engineer, ENSCO inc., USA, presented “U.S. Government grade crossing research, stakeholder engagement, and future test bed plans”.

Dr Danijela Baric, Professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Croatia, dealt with the “Contribution of train-vehicle crash tests to education and prevention: results of an in-situ experiment held on a level crossing in an agricultural area in Croatia”.

Maryam Hedayati, Senior Railway Engineer, Transport Canada, gave a presentation on “Canada’s grade crossing regulations – education and agricultural community outreach”.

Wende Corcoran, Vice President, Operation Lifesaver inc. (OLI), USA, discussed “Reaching agricultural workers where they are”.

Fonverne gave a presentation on behalf of Andrea BRANCO, RFI (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana - FS Group) and ANAS, Italy, on the “RFI safety awareness campaign:
rules, a security for your safety”.

Allan Spence, Chair of the UIC Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN) wrapped up both the TRESPAD and ILCAD conferences by underpinning the core safety messages shared across the two days on rail trespass and suicide prevention and on level crossing safety awareness.

On 16 June, the delegates had the opportunity to take part in technical visits at level crossings on the WKD Warsaw suburban railway network and the UTK Drivers’ training centre.

Finally, Fonverne, together with Julian Obaid and Lisandro Lopez Piñero from JST invited the participants to the next ILCAD and TRESPAD events, to be held on 5-6 and 7 June 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

For info

• Link to the UIC guidance on best practice for level crossing risk assessment https://uic.org/com/enews/article/uic-safety-platform-guidance-best-practice-for-level-crossing-risk-assessment

• We are thrilled to announce also on ILCAD day an exclusive roundtable on rail safety is specifically related to level crossings. Curated by Global Railway Review and moderated by Allan Spence, Chair of the UIC Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN) and Isabelle Fonverne, Senior Advisor, Safety and Interoperability, UIC.
  Roundtable: Safer Level Crossings (globalrailwayreview.com)