The RSF Steering Board, chaired by Michele Mario Elia, CEO RFI, took place on 20 June 2013 at UIC Headquarters in Paris. The five Rail System Forum Sectors were represented by their high-level Chairmen who delivered update reports for their respective domains.
The UIC RSF Steering Board’s unique constellation – being a technical platform for infrastructure, rolling stock and technology issues – attracts members not only from Europe but also from China (CRC), Japan (JR-East), Russia (RZD) and North America (AAR). The meeting focused on the work programmes for 2013 and a first outlook on new project proposals for 2014.
Simon Fletcher, Regional Coordinator for Europe, outlined a proposal for the potential involvement of RSF as an associated member at the Shift2rail initiative. Rail System Director, Hans Günther Kersten, announced with satisfaction that out of the seven projects selected as “Essential” by the European Group of Assistants, four were from the Rail System Forum.
The overall budget, proposed and divided between the five Sectors ranging from Control Command Signalling & Operations area to Energy Management, Track & Structures, Train Track Interaction and finally Rolling Stock, will be over 3,500 euros in 2014. Michele Elia appealed that UIC must undertake everything to help train operators reduce their costs, help them with implementation and try to find a solution on the issue of capacity.
The RSF Steering Board maintains a very strong link with other departments and platforms in order to optimise information sharing and avoid any overlapping of work. Thus reports from the research area were delivered jointly by Bo Olsson, Co-Chairman of the Research coordination Group (RCG) and Jerzy Wisniewski, Director of the UIC Fundamental Values Department.
Gianfranco Cau, UIC Senior Advisor and Standardisation Platform Secretary, reported on the targets of the UIC Standardisation Platform until December 2013 to members on behalf of the chairman Stefano Guidi, Trenitalia, whilst Teodor Gradinariu, UIC Senior Advisor and ERRAC Secretary, updated members on relevant topics concerning ERRAC and FOSTERRAIL.
