The 1st IRaTCA training programme of 2011, an Advanced Railway Operation Course for 14 trainees from 9 countries – Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Mongolia, Nigeria and Uzbekistan, was successfully held in Korea from 10 to 30 March.

The curriculum was designed for trainees to learn about KORAIL’s advanced railway operations through specialist lectures and technical visits, and subsequently for them to find solutions to problems they had chosen as the focus of their team projects.

The training course commenced with a lecture on the overview of KORAIL, including IRaTCA, by Mr HYON Yong Chon, Director of IRaTCA. The current status of nine countries’ railways was also introduced in order for all participants to become familiar with the railway contexts of other countries.

The participants visited KORAIL’s Goyang KTX depot, Guro CTC (Centralised Traffic Control) centre and IT centre, and took great interest in the explanations given about the facilities.

The cultural exchange session was an opportunity for all trainees and IRaTCA members to get to know each other better. A few recreational activities were prepared for the purpose of breaking the ice at the first meeting. In addition, introductions about the cultural life of each country made the session more meaningful by promoting mutual understanding in spite of cultural differences.

Mr HUH Joon-Young, CEO/President of KORAIL, was present at the certificate award ceremony. He said “We aim to achieve co-prosperity among Asian and furthermore African railways through this course by hosting this type of event,” and to achieve this “KORAIL will place all its efforts in leading the co-prosperity of Asian railways and, together with you, in becoming one of the world’s best railways.” In his congratulatory speech, Mr Maher from Jordan said that he had learned a great deal about KORAIL’s advanced railway technology and operations system during this course and thanked KORAIL in particular for its hospitality on behalf of all the trainees.