The UIMC (International Union of Railway Medical Services) Congress 2016 and UIMC General Assembly were held in Vienna, Austria from 28 – 30 September 2016. The events were hosted by ÖBB and its insurance company VAEB.

The UIMC congress was opened by Mr Heinz Rosenauer, HR Director and by Simon Lehner, Head of Health Management and Work Safety from ÖBB, at the new ÖBB Headquarters close to the new international station built in 2010. It brought together almost 70 participants from 19 countries and contributed to the health and well being as well as the aptitude assessment of the railway staff.

On 29 September, the technical events were initiated by the Head of Infrastructure Operations at ÖBB Headquarters. The group visited two important sites: the main station and its safety issues, and the Operations Centre.

On 30 September, the UIMC General Assembly took several important decisions such as the revision of the statutes and notification of the revision of the European Train Drivers Directive. It was the first General Assembly of the new Management Committee team under the supervision of new President, Dr Gennaro Palma (Italy). GA welcomes three new members: two from Australia (Metro Trains Melbourne, Australian Rail Track Corporation) and the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

During the congress, several lectures were delivered on various topics, such as a health and well-being improvement programme, screening for psychoactive drugs among railway workers with safety functions, climate and related general hazards in the Gotthard Base Tunnel and human factors in the safety system. All presentations are available on the UIC Extranet for UIMC members (http://extranet.uic.org).

The next Congress and UIMC General Assembly will be organised in York (United Kingdom) next year in September 2017.