Monday 22 March 2010
North America / Visit from Member

Karen J. Rae, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (USA), visits UIC Headquarters

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Mrs. Karen J. Rae, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (U.S. Department of Transportation), a UIC Member, paid a visit to the UIC Paris Headquarters on 18 March to hold a series of technical discussions, as part of a U.S. delegation study trip to Europe.

On behalf of Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General, who was absent from Europe during this period, several members of the UIC Board of Directors welcomed Mrs. Karen J. Rae and gave an insight into a series of UIC activities which are particularly relevant from the point of view of the U.S. railroad administration. Presentations included:

- An overall presentation of UIC activities in all fields of railway cooperation (Paul Véron, Director of Communications),
- The development of high speed rail systems around the world and UIC programmes for exchanging information and best practices (practicums with APTA and FRA in the U.S., high speed information session, etc.), UIC activities in the passenger field (Ignacio Barron de Angoiti, UIC Director Passenger / High Speed),
- Railway standards, UIC technical leaflets with relevance to the U.S. railroads,
- Financing of UIC and UIC cooperation projects, global and regional activities (UIC Finance Director Mrs. Marie-Eve Lim).
- George Barbu, Senior Advisor Signalling, IT & Satellite Navigation, UIC Rail System Department, prepared a presentation on “ERTMS / ETCS – Overview to enable the understanding of differences to the Positive Train Control PTC”.

The FRA Deputy Administrator expressed a keen interest on the possibilities of further developing partnerships and cooperation between FRA and UIC with a view to encouraging the introduction of high speed rail in the U.S. (as a follow-up of the ‘practicums’ on high speed rail prepared with APTA and held on 8 February 2010 in Washington in the presence of Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General and Ignacio Barron, Passenger / High Speed Director, and on 9 and 10 February in Chicago and Los Angeles) and tackling other important issues such as railway safety.

For further information please contact Paul Véron, Director of Communications: veron@uic.org

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From left to right: Karen J. Rae, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (U.S Departement of Transportation), Ignacio Barron UIC Passengers Director and Paul Véron, UIC Communications Director
From left to right: Marie-Eve Lim, UIC Finance Director, Karen J.Rae, Deputy Administrator of the FRA and Paul Véron, UIC Communications Director