UIC attended the 10th International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) Conference 2013 hosted by Indian Railways from 4 – 6 February in New Delhi, a modern cosmopolitan city with rich heritage. Under the general theme “Capacity building for business success through heavy haul operation”, about 700 delegates participated in workshops consisting of four parallel sessions. The latest developments in the US, China, Sweden/Norway, Australia, Russia were highlighted and the conference was attended by representatives from over 30 countries.
Various topics from over 120 papers were presented to participants and debated, such as:
- Freight train dynamics
- Special track works
- Monitoring of rolling stock
- Long haul freight trains
- Network capacity
- Heavy haul train operations, and even economics of heavy haul operations
This conference provided an excellent forum for railway researchers, practitioners, policy makers and industry leaders to meet and share their knowledge and experience and how to open new frontiers in heavy haul. Jean Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General of UIC, Member of the Board of IHHA, had delegated Bernard Schmitt, UIC Freight Project Manager for Long and/or Heavy Trains, the task of presenting the Board with the main issues of the UIC study on Long and/or Heavy Trains, completed in January this year. The study summarises in a snapshot the best practices and even some initiatives implemented in the European Union regarding the increase in length and payload of freight trains.
Before the next conference, which will take place in Perth, Australia, in June 2015, UIC will host the IHHA Board of Directors at UIC HQ in 2014. This will be an opportunity to give an update on heavy haul technologies and growth prospects.
The International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) is a worldwide non-governmental, scientific and technological association of heavy haul railways and their advocates. The IHHA is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in heavy haul railway operations, engineering, maintenance, and technology. It strives to accomplish this mission through the acquisition of knowledge relevant to this goal by sponsoring and organizing international and regional conferences, specialist technical sessions and specialist seminars; by commissioning guideline manuals, by preparing and distributing conference proceedings and technical documentation and by related activities as recommended by the Board of Directors. The IHHA engages in a continual process of adaptation to ensure it satisfies the demands of state-of-the-art technical information that is relevant in a changing and developing industry. The IHHA is governed by a Board of Directors who are appointed by the member and associate member organizations to conduct the affairs of the association and by a Chief Executive Officer appointed by the Directors. A Board of Directors Meeting is held annually in one of the members’ country. The Chief Executive Officer is Mr. W. Scott Lovelace, Chairman is Mr. Michael Roney and Vice Chairman is Mr. Semih Kalay, Senior Vice President of the Transportation Technology Center, Inc, (TTCI), USA.
