Mr François Davenne, UIC Deputy Director General, participated in the Shift2Rail Dialogue on the Future of Rail Research & Innovation on 12 February in Madrid. The event, organised at the kind invitation of FFE, the Spanish Railways Foundation, was opened by Ms Teresa Riesgo, Director General for Research, Development and Innovation, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Mr Pedro Lekuona, Director General, Railway Safety Agency, Ministry of Public Works as well as by Mr Carlo Borghini, Executive Director, Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking.
Mr François Davenne participated in the “Expectations from rail stakeholders” panel chaired by Mr Alberto Parrondo, Chairman of ERRAC (European Rail Research Council), together with Mr Philippe Citroën, Director General of UNIFE, Mr Libor Lochman, Executive Director of CER and Laurent Dauby, Rail Director at UITP.
Among the key messages, François Davenne together with UITP (laurent Dauby, Rail Director) advocated intelligent interfaces for Mobility as a Service.
He started by mentioning UIC’s role in setting the longer-term vision for the Railway Operating Community (ROC), based on a well-developed data capture and analysis capability for system and safety performance. Decisions on subject areas for development are taken upon the basis of information from these systems and the feedback of experience from the experts participating in UIC working groups. He highlighted that UIC added value lies in a sound vision of the interface with the end users and in the capability to integrate correctly the system processes. He said: “The work being undertaken by Shift2Rail will change the way we understand the external and internal interfaces in the railway system. It is therefore essential to ensure that each of them is considered so that the necessary impact to the railway system is clearly understood. This will require a total rethink of the modelling of the system and to be able to design the new standards that will be the basis for specifying the innovative services of tomorrow. The role of UIC in creating and managing IRS will be essential to help Shift2Rail2 in this challenging process.”
He continued with UIC’s proposal to define three key processes to develop sound interfaces and system management capabilities: Network Productivity, Safety/Security and Services to the end user. Definition of these processes should rely on careful SWOT analysis that will rely on life cycle management: digitalisation is a transverse process that will continue to bring disruptive innovations, it is therefore vital to avoid solutions that engage the system for too long periods of time without the possibility to upgrade only the fast evolving parts.
In a nutshell these three processes complement each other: FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System) and RTM (RAilTopoModel) playing the role of kernel for innovation that enables the vital data exchanges along the network. The evolving framework of standardised documents, with the IRSs (International Railway Solutions) at the heart, can be utilised as a supporting mechanism for Shift2Rail deliverables. UIC will support the definition of these processes and undertake a range of simulations based on our numerous databases and working groups.
