In accordance with Cooperation Plan for 2020 between UIC and OSJD, the meeting of the UIC-OSJD Joint Working Group (JWG) on the migration of joint UIC/OSJD leaflets into International Railway Solutions (IRS) was held from 7 to 9 October 2020 by web conference.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the following railways:
Belarusian Railway (BC), Railway of Moldova State Enterprise (CFM), Polish State Railways JSC (PKP), Russian Railways JSC (JSC RZD), Ukrainian Railway JSC (JSC Ukrzaliznytsia), LTG Cargo JSC (parts of the group of companies Lithuanian railways), Latvian railway - SJSC Latvijas dzelzceļš (LDZ), the International Union of Railways (UIC), and the OSJD Committee.
On behalf of Mr Francois Davenne, UIC Director General, the UIC delegation underlined the need for the coordination of UIC-OSJD activities on modern technical solutions (including IRSs) to be further elaborated jointly by OSJD and UIC, to the benefit of the Railway Operating Community (ROC) Eurasia-wide.
IRS “Carriage of exceptional goods” under improvement
The second draft of the IRS “Carriage of exceptional goods in international railway traffic” (based on IRS 50502-1) would be prepared by RZD (VNIIZhT) and submitted to the JWG in November 2020.
The UIC representatives updated the meeting on the publication progress of the first version of the IRS by the UIC in 2020. This version did not include 1520 mm parameters, but UIC committed to publish a 2nd edition of the IRS as soon as RZD (VNIIZhT) provided a specific application part to be added (expected early 2021).
Annual priorities planning confirmed
Following the proposal of JWG members, the JWG kept the list of first priority to the following joint OSJD-UIC Leaflets to be migrated into IRSs:
- OSJD O+R 516/UIC Leaflet 430-4 “Freight wagons. Operation between 1435 mm gauge and 1520 mm gauge networks. Technical provisions and approval”
- OSJD O+PR 524/UIC Leaflet 508-3 “Passenger coaches – General requirements for running gear with dual gauge wheelsets for railways with 1435 mm and 1520 mm gauges”
- OSJD O+R 535/UIC Leaflet 535-2 “Standardisation and positioning on wagons of steps, end platforms, gangways, handrails, tow hooks, automatic coupler (AC), automatic draw-on coupling and brake valve controls to be used on the railways of OSJD & UIC”
New Terms of Reference of the JWG
The meeting discussed the new draft Terms of Reference (ToR) of the UIC-OSJD JWG on IRS.
Given that the term “IRS” already included a self-explanatory definition of the area of activity (railway transport-related materials), the JWG participants suggested improving the ToR name as follows: “Terms of Reference of OSJD/UIC Joint Working Group on the migration of OSJD/UIC joint leaflets into international railway solutions (IRS)”.
Taking into account the voluntary nature generally accepted regarding the application of standards, it was also proposed that “of voluntary accession” be deleted from the ToR name and the title of the JWG.
The new draft ToR would have to be submitted to the governing bodies of both organisations for further approval during 2021, in line with the established procedures within UIC and OSJD.
Processes would be proposed to clearly identify responsibility, intellectual property issues and timings.
Progress on migration of UIC Leaflets into IRSs
In the interests of full transparency, UIC presented the current state of the overall IRS migration programme. The objective was to help and encourage OSJD members to select existing leaflets to be developed into IRSs jointly by UIC and OSJD experts.
IRS 50505-1 under bilateral approval
The meeting discussed the status of the completed draft IRS 50505-1 “Rolling Stock Gauges”. It had been developed on the basis of the OSJD-UIC joint Leaflet OSJD O 500/UIC 505-6. UIC would publish IRS 50505-1 before the end of 2020. The final version of the IRS would include the specific application part for 1520 (1524) mm and 1435 mm track gauges on the networks of OSJD members. In turn, OSJD would translate the new document into Russian and submit the final version of IRS 50505-1 for further approval.
Next schedule
The next meeting of the UIC-OSJD JWG on IRS was provisionally scheduled for 16 to 18 February 2021.
