The seminar was opened by Mr Farouk Chiali, Minister of Transport and Public Works (MTPT) of Algeria. He stressed the issue of railway safety and more particular level crossings as a high risk for the railways. There are 1250 LCs in Algeria.

Different solutions: remove level crossings, create underpasses or bridges.

Some interesting objectives: increase the number of railway lines from 4,200 km today to 6,300 km soon and 12,000 km by 2030. Close level crossings, improve their management, refurbish existing rolling stock, buy new rolling stock, increase train speed in the future from 160 to 220 km/h in the future. Electrify railway lines. Better diagnostics, more data collected, more staff training. Recommendations for the medium and longer term. Create a distinct entity for accident investigations. Increase the number of train passengers and railway freight transport. Build new stations or refurbish older stations.

Then Mr Mourad Khouki, Director General, National Coordinator for Transport, at MTPT, Algeria reported on the objectives of the seminar, welcomed participants and the following speakers:

• Mrs Silvia Severi, DUE (Delegation of the European Union to Algeria)
• Mr Peter Mihm, ERA (European Union Agency for Railways)
• Mr Yacine Bendjabalah, SNTF (Algeria’s national railway operator)
• Mr Azzedine Fridi, ANESRIF (National Agency for the Planning and Implementation of Railway Investments)

• Peter Mihm presented the mandates and activities of ERA
• Mr Mourad Khoukhi presented the Algerian Programme of railway transport
• Mr Azzedine Fridi, ANESRIF (National Agency for the Planning and Implementation of Railway Investments) presented the national railway investment
• Mr Yacine Bendjabalah, SNTF : presented SNTF’s development plan

Session I – Common approach to railway safety

• Mr Ali Kechout, SNTF: “Railway safety in Algeria”
• Mr Ilyas Daoud, ERA: “Railway safety in the UE”
• Mrs Clarisse Lagaize-Davoine, ERA: “Role and organisation of an NSA”
• Mr Éric Paroisse, EPSF (French Railway Safety Authority): Case study: “the French NSA – EPSF”
• Mrs Anna Patacchini, ERA: “Objectives and structure of data bases to develop railway safety”: ERAIL and ERADIS

Session II – Build and reinforce a safety management system (SMS)

• Mrs Anna Patacchini, ERA: Introduction to the safety management system
• Mr Éric Paroisse, EPSF: The role of an NSA in the reinforcement of the SMS
• Mr Nourredine Yahia Cherif, Case Study – SNCF
• Mrs Clarisse Lagaize Davoine, ERA: The monitoring of safety performance
• Mr Okba Herrad, MTPT (Ministry of Public Works and Transport) and Mr Tewfik Bach-Tobdji, SNTF : Recommendations and steps to reinforce SMS

Session III: Management of railway risks

Mrs Clarisse Lagaize Davoine-ERA: Common safety method on risk assessment

Safety Management at level crossings (LCs):

Mrs Isabelle Fonverne, Senior advisor, Safety Division of UIC introduced UIC, UIC global activities on level crossing safety, LC statistics from the UIC safety database (figures in Europe, comparisons with Maghreb countries).

She stressed the value of the UIC safety database, reported on the annual public and confidential UIC safety reports existing since 2006. She presented ELCF (European Level Crossing Forum) works and ILCAD campaign.

She invited SNTF to share their statistics with UIC, to participate in the ILCAD campaign and the launch conference on 11 June 2020: Visit www.ilcad.org
She finally reported on other important dates to note.

• 12-13 March 2020: European Level Crossing Forum (ELCF) meeting hosted by ProRail in Utrecht.
• 21 April 2020: EUMedRail at UIC HQ.

Mr Grigore Havarneanu, Senior Advisor, Security Division of UIC presented two EU projects coordinated by UIC related to LC safety (Safer-LC) and suicide/trespassing prevention (RESTRAIL).

He reminded the meeting that LC users and trespassers account for 91% of all fatalities on the railways excluding suicides, and 97% including suicides (ERA figures 2018).

He shared first the objectives of the EU-funded SAFER-LC project
(www.safer-lc.eu), some examples of human centred low-cost safety measures which were evaluated during the project, and presented the SAFER-LC Toolbox (a decision-support tool to increase safety at LCs).

He invited the audience to participate in the final conference of the project foreseen on 22 April 2020 in Paris, at UIC HQ. Registration link: https://uic.org/events/safer-lc-final-conference-303.

He then presented the EU RESTRAIL project (http://restrail.eu/).
He reported on the measures published in the public RESTRAIL toolbox/ http://www.restrail.eu/toolbox/
We also had a presentation from SNTF/ANESRIF on the safety management of level crossings with statistics, mitigation and improvement measures.

Session III: Management of railway risks

Principals and requirements of the EU Safety directive regarding incidents and accidents investigation

• Mrs Anna Patacchini, ERA presented the role of an NIB
• Mr Nourredine Yahia Cherif, Independent Expert, presented an internal investigation case at SNCF and an internal investigation versus investigation by NIB
• Example of the investigation process at SNTF
• SNTF/ERA/MTPT recommendations: identification of ways to increase the collection of data, and accident investigations

Mr Mourad Khoukhi, MTPT and Mr Peter Mihm, EUMedRail shared their conclusions:

• Create an NSA in Algeria under the umbrella of the Algerian Ministry of Transport and Public works
• Collect data on railway accidents, with homogeneous definitions
• Create SMS
• Make trains attractive: high quality service, safe mode of transport
• Need for internal training, this kind of seminar is promising