In the midst of a flurry of UIC statutory meetings, the European Management Committee (EMC) and the Regional Assembly Europe met in Paris on 7 December.
The EMC approved and the RA-Europe validated:
• a much streamlined budget thanks to the managerial effort of the UIC DG Jean-Pierre Loubinoux,
• a renewed Board for the EMC for the years 2010-2011 consisting of : Mr Guillaume Pepy, SNCF (Chair), Mr Rudige Grube, DB AG (vice-Chair), Mr Mauro Moretti, FS (vice-Chair), Mr Bert Klerk, ProRail (vice Chair) and ATOC, CP, Hungrail, VEOLIA, RHK, Network Rail, RZD and PKP as members
• appointment of Simon Fletcher as the UIC Regional Coordinator, Europe
• a consensual structure for the new Rail System Forum (RSF) which will replace the current structure composed of the Infrastructure Forum, the ERTMS Platform and the Technology and Research Platform. The principal goal of the RSF is to put in place a more system-oriented framework as a support to the delivery of projects
• the closure of the UIC official representative office in Brussels from January 2010 as part of the successful conclusion of the series of tripartite meetings between CER, EIM and UIC which culminated in the creation of the “Coordination Technical Group”. The UIC will however keep the necessary technical presence in Brussels to fulfil its technical role in CTG and as a liaison with the other associations in Brussels.
The RA-Europe also approved:
• the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding with UNIFE to produce Technical Recommendations (TecRecs), a series of voluntary joint rail standards between the operators and industry
• the continuation of the TAF-TSI deployment process via the validation of the required budget
• the developments related to the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) to be held in June 2010
• an urge for members to actively participate in the follow up of the “LL blocks” project through the Europe Train project
• an updated version of its internal regulations in line with the new statutes.
