The sixth meeting of the UIC Covid-19 taskforce was attended remotely on 12 May by a large number of participants from Asia to the Americas, including Europe and Africa. Marc Guigon, Chair of the Task Force, delivered a special greeting to the newcomers, namely:
- ANPTrilhos, the National Association of Passenger Carriers on Rails of Brazil
- ETOA, the trade association for tourism in Europe with whom UIC signed a MoU last year
- Irish Rail, the operator of the national railway network of Ireland
- Keolis, the international operator of urban and rail networks
- OTIF, the intergovernmental organization for international carriage by rail
- UNECE, the United Nation Economic Commission for Europe
Presentations were delivered by DB, FGC and UNECE, notably on the impact of Covid-19 on transport operations, how they were addressing the current situation, measures being taken, as well as the challenges to come during recovery.
The meeting also looked at the Task Force deliverables. To date the UIC taskforce has prepared three guidance documents:
- Management of Covid-19, a series of potential measures (March 2020)
- Management of Covid-19, potential measures to restore confidence in rail travel following the Covid-19 pandemic (April 2020)
- Management of Covid-19, RAILsilience, how the rail sector has fought Covid-19 during the lockdown (to be published shortly)
Focus was given to this last guidance, which is a collection of response measures implemented by railway companies to tackle Covid-19, written on the basis of information provided by members of the UIC Task Force through questionnaires, the Extranet Forum and presentations. To date, 37 responses had been received from all UIC regions.
The next Task Force web-conference is due to be held on 26 May 2020.
