The 7th Asia Pacific Network of Rail Training Centres (APNRTC) hosted by Vietnam Railways (VNR) took place in Hanoi from 19 – 20 November 2014. The meeting was attended by delegates from Korean Railways (KORAIL), Indian Railways (IR), Moscow State University of Railway Engineering (MIIT), State Railways of Thailand (SRT), Malaysian Railways ( KTMB), Japan Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI ) and Vietnam Railways (VNR).
The meeting was opened by Deputy CEO of VNR, Mr Ngo Anh Tao, as well as UIC Director General Mr Jean Pierre Loubinoux through a video message.
In their welcoming messages both acknowledged the importance of Expertise Development for a sustainable and competitive railway and for driving change through Human Capital Development.
The purpose of the yearly meeting is to bring together rail training executives/experts and HR executives from the AP region to discuss and share training issues in the region and define the action plan for the following year.
The meeting is also the occasion for the members to get an update of the Expertise Development Platform activity and to look at complementary and synergy ventures between the different regions.
Mrs Amirault, Head of Expertise Development Activity, reported on the following activities:
- Other regional network activities (ENRTC-European Network of Rail Training Centres and MERTCe – Middle East network of Rail Training Centres)
- TALENT project: the on-line TALENT platform which should be a powerful tool to support the TALENT project activities is now available at: www.railtalent.org.
- Some of the results of the Asian training study (data about training centres in Asia) undertaken in 2013 are displayed on the platform, under the “skills” section
- Third UIC World Congress on Rail Training to be held in Lisbon from 15 – 17 April 2015 (www.wcrt2015.org)
- Scheduled training sessions in 2015 (some already announced at http://www.uic.org/spip.php?article2034#outil_sommaire_0)
- During the meeting, MIIT reported on the training session “Rail logistics chain and private-public partnership” held in Moscow from 21 – 23 May 204 , and IRaTCA/KORAIL about the training session “IT & Train Operation” held in Seoul and Uiwang from 20 – 24 October 2014.
Members of APNRTC agreed that:
- International Railway Training Centre for UIC Asia (IRaTCA’s director Mr Won Jong-Chul) and VNR (Ms Han Nhu Quynh, Director of International Cooperation) will continue their chairmanship and vice-chairmanship respectively for APNRTC in 2015.
- Two training sessions will take place in the framework of APNRTC in 2015: one in Moscow (M.I.I.T) in June or July and the other in Korea/ IRaTCA in October. Preliminary topics for the trainings were identified and members will continue further exchanges and final validation until the end of 2014/beginning 2015.
- Venue of next APNRTC still to be considered.
The meeting was also the occasion to visit the railway vocational college of VNR in the suburb of Hanoi. The college provides primary level, middle level and college level curriculum to meet the demands by VNR for a highly qualified workforce.
The members also had the opportunity to join networking lunches and dinners of ASEAN Rail CEO Conference, which was also hosted by VNR, as well as the cultural visit to Trang An, the newly appointed world heritage in Vietnam.
The video message of Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General, is available here:
