The autumn meeting of the UIC Expertise Development Platform (EDP), which took place at the Norwegian Rail Academy and NSB Competence Centre in Oslo on 24 and 25 September 2015, brought together training executives/representatives from 16 different rail training centres/institutions.
Part of the meeting was dedicated to an update on the latest developments of the Expertise Development unit/platform as well as progress of work for the activities at the focus of the Expertise Development Platform for the next two years and beyond.
The meeting was also the occasion for Mr Jean Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General, to inform the platform’s members of the results of the call for Presidency of the Expertise Development Platform (EDP) launched in July 2015. On this occasion, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux warmly thanked the current Chair Mr Alexander Netolicky (ÖBB) for his commitment and great support during the last mandate and welcomed Mrs Esther Marconi, HRD from Italferr as new President of the EDP starting from January 2016.
The meeting confirmed interest in the following topics:
1) Trainer development group. The group which was set up after the first WCRT in 2011 will continue its activities with support from EC funds (Erasmus plus)
2) “ERTMS/ETCS”: Interest in this topic was raised at WCRT 2015 in Lisbon. Interest was confirmed by participants and a working group was set up in Oslo
3) “Simulation training”: Interest in this topic was initiated by APRA (Asia Pacific Regional Assembly) and the first workshop took place in Moscow in February 2015 as well as WCRT 2015 in Lisbon. Interest was confirmed by participants and a working group was set up in Oslo
4) The fourth World Congress on Rail Training will be organised from 5 – 7 April 2017. An official invitation for hosting the congress will be launched shortly and preparation of the congress will start early 2016
5) TALENT project. An update of the project was given as follows:
– Management Development programme:
Two continuing Professional Development Courses and an Executive MBA are underway
- Rail Asset Management (RAM) in cooperation with Rail Uni Net, La sapienza universita di Roma, Dates: 16 – 20 November 2015, live classrooms in Rome / 23 November – 17 December 2015, e-learning
- Freight and Logistics course in cooperation with Rail Uni Net, IST, and TransportNET. Provisional Dates: 23 – 28 November 2015 in Lisbon
- The first Global Executive MBA (EMBA) dedicated to railways will start in spring 2016. The EMBA is developed in cooperation with EM Lyon Business school
- Global Network of Rail Talents is also developing fast. Results of the first networking and collaborative event are published at www.railtalent.org. Further development of the online TALENT platform is under consideration.
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Another important purpose of the UIC EDP meetings for the attendees is to share rail training features and developments across the industry, as well as to get up-to-date information on current international developments regarding the rail sector.
Part of the meeting was dedicated to presentations of Norwegian Rail Academy activities and NSB Competence Centre activities.
The meeting was the opportunity for the attendees to exchange experience, ideas and good practice around topics dedicated to safety and customer service, simulator training for train drivers and signallers, ERTMS training in the simulation centre, quality control, e-learning, video teaching, training of conductors/drivers,…
The next meeting of the platform is scheduled to be held in spring 2016 in the UK.
The exact dates and venue will be confirmed soon.
