Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of UIC, and Mr Genady Talashkin, President of the Union of Railway Constructors (SSZD, Russia), met on 24 January 2017 at Paris UIC HQ.
The meeting between the heads of UIC and SSZD was attended by Mr Aleksey Stepanenko, SSZD Vice-President, Ms Kristina Guseva, Assistant to the SSZD President, Mr Marc Antoni, UIC RSD Director, Ms Irina Petruina, UIC APRA representative for CIS & EAEU countries and Mr Vytautas Kinderis, UIC Coordinator for Standardisation and East-West Relations.
Topics discussed during the meeting were linked to the programming of UIC & SSZD cooperation:
Analysis of EAEU normative base
Mr Talashkin reported on SSZD activities on Technical Regulation of EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) to be improved following the decision and request by the heads of the Russian Transport Ministry and Russian Railways.
SSZD should pay special attention during the improvement of Standards for High Speed Lines infrastructure – it belongs to the highest priority within development and further evolution of EAEU 1520 Technical Regulation.
SSZD activities consist of analysis of EAEU Technical Reglament for HS Transportation to be compared with existing best European and word practice & solutions – this topic finds a particular correlation with UIC projects under implementation.
Both Mr Talashkin and Mr Loubinoux expressed the idea of UIC concepts and products of IRS to be used for the needs of UIC APRA Members within the EAEU area to be supported.
Specialist training for certification
Mr Talashkin holds the position of Dean of the new MIIT department backed by SSZD where railway staff undergo skills improvement training.
The key topics in training are linked to certification processes, which are considered by the top-management of EAEU 1520 railway transport system as critical, and must prevent components of inadequately quality to be supplied to the EAEU 1520 railway network.
Ms Petrunina pointed out the huge potential of bilateral cooperation between UIC and SSZD within the certification area to be supported by experts of both organisations.
Development of competence centre and certification body
Mr Talashkin reported on the ongoing steps to establish the SSZD certification centre following a request by the heads of the Russian Transport Ministry and Russian Railways.
Mr Loubinoux and Mr Talashkin agreed on the mutual interest to develop joint UIC-SSZD certification activities while involving SSZD/MIIT traineeships & staff in UIC projects.
Thereby Mr Talashkin invited Mr Loubinoux to personally attend the SSZD Certification Conference to be hosted by MIIT on 2 March 2017 in Moscow and to present the UIC view & approach linked to sensitives areas of certification.
