The inaugural training session on “Asset Management and Key Performance Indicators for Railways” was held at UIC Headquarters’, Paris, from 17-19 October 2011.

As the Director of the UIC Rail System Department pointed out during the opening session, the training was set up further to the results of a worldwide survey “Your training needs” that the UIC Expertise Development Unit undertook in 2010.

This training session, organised in cooperation with EURNEX (European Rail Research Network of Excellence), was attended by some 20 participants from 12 countries, including guests from India and Japan.

The speakers were experienced academics and practitioners with a good knowledge of the reality of railway systems and their pragmatic needs across the world. They provided participants with state-of-the-art practices, innovative solutions and a challenging discussion on the future of railway infrastructure management, supported by sound theoretical underpinnings.

The three-day course provided case studies, materials and in-depth analysis of instruments for more efficient and effective management of railway infrastructure in future, with a view to competition and an environment where public and private parties interact and share costs and benefits.

The course explained key economic concepts as well as the statistical methods used to estimate efficiency. It also explained alternative “bottom-up” engineering methods and how these are used by regulators alongside statistical methods to reach a judgement on efficiency. Throughout the three days, examples were drawn from practical case studies on economic regulation and wider studies of rail reforms around the world.

The training was very well assessed by the attendees who actively participated throughout the three days, resulting in very fruitful exchanges with both the presenters/professors and colleagues from other companies.

For more information concerning UIC training:
http://www.uic.org/spip.php?article2034