The 6th APNRTC (Asia Pacific Network of Rail Training Centres) meeting took place at CARS (China Academy of Railway Sciences) facilities, Beijing, from 19 – 22 November 2013.
The meeting was a follow-up of the working group which met at MIIT – Moscow State University of Railway Engineering last July with the partners of the Asian Strategic Study on Rail Training. The APNRTC was attended for the first time by railway training/education executives and experts from railway training centres/railway universities.
Seven countries were represented as follows: China (CARS and Beijing Jiatong University), India (IR), Vietnam (VNR), Korea (IRaTCA), Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar Railway JSC), Russia (MIIT) and Japan (RTRI).
Part of the meeting was dedicated to cooperation work and exchanges on the future programme of activities for the APNRTC, as well as in the broader context and activity of the UIC Expertise Development Platform. The meeting was also the occasion to obtain information and exchange practices in the area of “accreditation of training centres” – a topic which is currently on the CARS agenda. CARS started the accreditation of railway training a few years ago. The Railway Academy is currently looking at international experience in this area, aiming for an international standard for railway accreditation at CARS.
The group decided to organise two training sessions in 2014 (depending on APRA – Asia Pacific Regional Assembly – decision concerning 2014 budgets).
The first training will take place at MIIT on the topic “International logistics chain including PPP issues”; provisional dates 19 – 23 May 2014.
The group also expressed their keen interest to be actively involved in the TALENT project. The UIC Global TALENT project deals with the need for the rail sector to find solutions on how to better attract and retain the best talents in the railway sector (see article “TALENT” in same edition of UIC eNews).
The second part of the meeting was dedicated to the visit of CARS’ impressive facilities: the traffic control simulation laboratory, the EMC laboratory, the track structure laboratory, the national railway track test centre…
96 academic-type doctoral, 93 master-degree students, and 151 engineering master-degree students are currently studying at the CARS Railway Technology Research College. Moreover, on average, CARS organises over 100 classes of training with a complete range of rail transport courses, with over 10,000 trainees annually, including trainees from the railway sector.
The next meeting of the APNRTC will take place in Vietnam, at the kind invitation of VNR, in autumn 2014, on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting.
