The Covid-19 Task Force chaired by Marc Guigon, Director of the UIC Passenger Department, was launched in February to provide Members and partners a place to exchange best practice and information on the management of the Covid-19 crisis as well as guidance and current practices.
The task force is composed of 115 Members from more than 50 rail companies and 12 international organisations (UITP, CER, EIM, IATA, CIT, AAR, ALAF…) all over the world (40 countries) who are regularly exchanging information and sharing current practice with the support of the UIC task force team.
The week was very intense with many results achieved:
On 31 March, the third Covid-19 task force meeting was held online with more than 50 participants from all over the world (Europe, Asia, America, Middle East and Africa). This was a great opportunity to learn more about the France’s SNCF hospital train, Countermeasures for employees & dealing with suspected infection (Japan, JR East ), Prevention measures following the Covid-19 impact (China, China State Railway Group Co), Good practice for maintenance work (UK, Network Rail) and Operating in the context of a pandemic situation (Russia, RZD).
The meeting was very interactive with many exchanges between the participants. It was really impressive to see all the work being done all around the world.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 14 April, from 13:00 to 15:00 CET (Paris time).
Recent example of UIC member solidarity:
SNCF supports and advises RENFE for the organistion of three hospital trains.
Updates on the Covid-19 database were regularly sent to the members, thanks to the contribution of all the members and the compilation of the information done by our UIC colleague, Laura Petersen. At this stage, 57 companies have provided information on various aspect of the crisis:
- Role and obligations from national authorities
- Prevention measure against Covid-19 spreading
- Management of suspected cases
- Passenger and staff awareness campaign
- Business continuity
As well as 9 special summary sheets:
- Passenger Service Shut Down (partial or complete)
- Management of (Passenger) Border Closures
- Shops in Stations
- Hand Sanitiser in Stations
- Cleaning Protocols
- Suspected Case Protocols
- Certificate renewal
- Security issues
- Forum
Management of Covid-19 – Guidance for railway stakeholders: this document brings together potential measures, collected in February-March 2020 with the aim to assist railway stakeholders and provide reliable information about the specific challenges for rail when it comes to this communicable disease.
An updated version of the guidance will be soon available:
https://uic.org/news/article/covid-19
You can also join in on the exchange and discussions on our LinkedIn group UIC Covid-19 task force:
In addition, more than 60 videos are available in the UIC mediacenter at https://mediacenter.uic.org/fr/sws-nav/540-994-covid19/page/1/template/second-level
All information is available in the Extranet at: https://extranet.uic.org/?babrw=workspaces/babDG97workspaces
