IRaTCA successfully held its training programme entitled “Railway Management and Operation Course for the Philippines”, from 25 August to 10 September. It was the second time that an IRaTCA training programme had been dedicated to Filipino trainees, following the one in May 2010.
The curriculum was designed for trainees to learn about KORAIL’s advanced railway management and operations through specialist lectures and technical visits, and then seek solutions to problems they had chosen as the subject of their team projects.
Mr Hyon Yong-chon, Director of IRaTCA, delivered the first lecture of the course on KORAIL’s Management System, to help the trainees understand KORAIL’s organisation, with additional background knowledge about the history of KORAIL and Korea railroad. Mr Hyon also tried to give more variety to the lecture on KORAIL’s Marketing Strategy compared to the previous version by changing the focus of the lecture from introducing business facilities, systems and regulations in KORAIL’s railway transport business to analysing its current financial status, and finally deducing the reason under the renewed lecture by doing significant preparatory work to gather statistical data about the financial status of KORAIL. Therefore, the trainees were able to understand the flow of KORAIL’s business activity as a public company as well as its financial standing.
In addition, other lectures covering other technical sectors of the railways such as signalling systems, railway safety and rolling stock etc. were prepared to meet the needs of the trainees and to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of the railways.
During a visit to Goyang KTX depot, Guro CTC (Centralised Traffic Control) centre, and KORAIL IT centre, the participants showed a deep interest in the technical facilities and how they worked, and hoped to adopt them within their railways in the future.
IRaTCA held the certificate ceremony to end the course on 8 September where 12 trainees were awarded with certificates. Mr Huh Joon-Young, CEO/President of KORAIL, awarded all the prizes to the trainees. In his congratulatory speech, he stated “KORAIL will cooperate closely with the leaders of Asian railways in order for your participation and cooperation to bear fruit. KORAIL will make every effort to lead the co-prosperity of Asian railways and to become the world’s best railway”.
Ms Ma Angela Escalona Ignacio, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Finance, DOF, delivered a reply speech. She mentioned “On behalf of the Philippine delegation, I would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all of you for making the Railway Management and Operations course possible.....We will all go home wiser, armed with new ideas, a renewed interest in railways and hopes of someday making PNR world-class. Korea will serve as an inspiration to us – a living proof that even a nation devastated by war can be rebuilt and rise again to be one of the leaders in development.
IRaTCA will continue to play its role to assist the development of Asian and African railways by expanding long-term training courses, which will also bring positive effects for building a solid network of KORAIL with overseas countries in the future.
