The Commercial and Distribution Forum meeting took place in Paris on 20 April. Mr Ruetger Fenkes, President of the Forum, chaired the meeting. Representatives from RENFE, TRENITALIA, SNCB/NMBS, CFR, SBB/CFF/FFS, SNCF, ATTICA GROUP, TRAINOSE, NS, DSB, ATOC and CIT were present.

The new projects launched by the CDF, to be proposed as opt-in projects were discussed, and also new activities within the ongoing projects were decided. The presidents of the Commercial and the Technical Group, Mr Hilario and Mr Querée, reported on the work and meetings in their groups and subgroups. The MERITS PRIFIS project was also featured on the agenda, as did the practicalities of the technical agreement between ERA and UIC, and the PASSAGE working group. A report of the auditing activities and the decisions taken by the PATRIC Steering Board was also given, and finally, there was a presentation by UIC headquarters about the new Quality Management System. As it was the first plenary meeting of the year, budgets for the 2017 working groups were decided.

The next Commercial and Distribution Forum will take place in Vienna on 16 November 2016, kindly hosted by OBB.