The 11th UIC Rail System Forum (RSF) Plenary Session was held on 28 October 2015 under the chairmanship of Infrabel CEO, Mr. Luc Lallemand. Participants from Europe, the Middle East and Asia were updated on the ongoing RSF projects, deliverables and reports achieved by the Forum in the course of the year.
UIC Director General, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, thanked the RSF Steering Board members for the preparatory work and stressed the fact that UIC’s philosophy was to work together to share both costs and technical knowledge for the benefit of the Railway Operating Community.
The RSF approved an IRS (International Railway Standard) on “Railway Application High Speed-Dynamic integration Tests and Trial Operation before Revenue Operation”. Two further IRS had been discussed and will undergo further modification with respect to comments received from members.
Leaflet 778-3 on “Recommendations for the inspection, assessment and maintenance of masonry arch bridges” was approved unanimously. UIC Leaflet 541-05 “Brakes – Manufacturing specifications for various brake parts –Wheel Slide protection device” was approved in principle subject to further comments until 6 November 2015.
The RSF briefly discussed the revised version of the RSF Terms of Reference and decided to postpone its approval until the next RSF Plenary meeting, leaving more time for reflection for one of the members.
UIC Financial Director, Thierry Bera, reported on the latest results of the Opt-in results for RSF projects in 2016.
The RSF decided to launch three new projects in 2016 in the areas of Rolling Stock and Signalling. Four more projects with lower but yet interesting opt-in results could potentially be carried out in 2016, depending on the individual decisions of those members who have expressed interest.
The Sector chairmen and coordinators for Rolling Stock (Marco Caposciutti-Trenitalia), Energy Management (Antonio Berrios Villalba-ADIF), CCS & Telecom (Marc Antoni on behalf of Thomas Joindot-SNCF), Track & Structures (Francisco Cardoso dos Reis-IP), Train Track Interaction (Pierre-Etienne Gautier-Systra) and Asset Management (Teodor Gradinariu for Andy Kirwan-Networkrail) delivered their update reports focusing on delays or discrepancies that had to be tackled over the year.
An update on International Railway Standards (IRS), the Cooperation Agreements between UIC –IEC, UIC-OSJD and the planned Cooperation Agreement between UIC - ISO was delivered by Gianfranco Cau on behalf of the Standardisation Platform chairman, Stefano Guidi (Trenitalia). The RSF Sectors Chairmen had been asked to send their programmes for the Migration Plan from UIC Leaflets to IRSs to the Standardisation Platform and to start the implementation as soon as possible.
The next meeting of the Plenary Session will be on 21 April 2016.
