For the second year now, UIC members are being asked to validate the proposed activities put forward by the UIC Forums and Platforms for the following year, i.e. 2011.

UIC members are required to state whether they will “opt-in” to the NEW proposed projects in order to:

Firstly

• Approve the added value of the activity,
• Determine the number of financing members and as such of deliverable owners.

Secondly

• Enable the department directors to organise action plans for the coming years and the management of expert resources,
• Initiate the process of calculating members’ financial contribution towards the projects.

The supporting documentation for this procedure regarding European members’ contributions was sent last week with information such as:

• Description, duration and total planned cost of the project,
• Estimated member contribution if each member opts in and agrees to finance the project.

The deadline for receiving all information is 13 September, to enable UIC headquarters to determine the final portfolio of NEW projects to be issued in 2011, and the final member contribution.

In the same file, the European members received the breakdown of contributions for ONGOING projects in 2011. The number of financing members for ONGOING projects is known and enables each financing member’s contribution to be calculated based on members’ voting rights, adapted to the technical area to which the project is attached.

Regarding European activities, the Forums and Platforms propose 30 NEW projects for 2011, spanning between 2 and 4 years, and amounting to a total of 2.3 M€, with project costs ranging from 20 K€ to 200 K€.

Examples of some NEW projects (the detailed list of projects is available to European members):

• Assessment of Masonry Arch Bridges (220 K€ for 2011 and 2012) to develop an assessment framework enabling bridge owners to better determine the permitted safe load limits and residual life of masonry arch bridges,

• Winter problems (53 K€ for 2011) to use and structure all investigations carried out to date. Draw conclusions from this and from interviews,

• Axles, wheels and axle boxes: reliability/safety and EN 50126 (40 K€ for 2011) to determine the reliability and safety of railway vehicle running gear.

This amount has to be added to the permanent activities and ongoing projects which represents 8.1 M€.

The total financial contribution requested by the Forums and Platforms from the European members for 2011 is 10.45 M€, compared to 10.37 M€ in 2010.
Including a carry-over reimbursement of 0.3 M€, the final amount requested for 2011 is 10.15 M€.

Some of the 2011 projects will be considered as multiregional projects after approval by several regions.

For 2011, the Asian and Middle-Eastern regions have received proposals to be involved in other regional projects and will also reply before the regional assemblies.
Similarly, the European members will express their interest in becoming involved and in co-financing the proposed Asian or Middle-Eastern regional projects.

Each year, UIC headquarters manages nearly 120 projects with the expertise of UIC HQ staff, member experts and even specialised rail transport service providers.
This allows UIC to produce over 200 deliverables (e.g. leaflets, regulations, test models and technical results).