Tuesday 2 November 2010
Rail System Forum

First UIC Rail System Forum Plenary Session held in Paris on 26 October 2010

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On 26 October 2010 the RSF Chairman, Mr Zbigniew Szafrański, welcomed over 40 members from Europe, China and Russia to this first RSF Plenary Session. He stated that the RSF was now the biggest technical service provider within UIC.

On behalf of Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Mr Emilio Maestrini reported on the highlights of 2010 at UIC, including the most important projects and activities such as the dissemination of the results of INNOTRACK, the project proposals EMC and TAF TSI (in cooperation with CER) and the EUROPE TRAIN project examining LL brake block systems for noise reduction.

The RSF Terms of Reference were presented then approved by all members of the RSF Plenary Session. The document forms the basis for all RSF internal processes as well as clearly describing interfaces with other bodies and platforms. It will enable a smooth and structured workflow. Following the decision taken by the RSF Plenary Session the RSF Terms of Reference will now be submitted to the UIC General Assembly for formal approval.

Mr Zbigniew Szafrański presented the final and approved membership of the RSF Steering Board with its four sector chairmen:

  • Andy Doherty, NetworkRail, for the Track & Structures Sector
  • Michele Mario Elia, RFI, for the CCS & Operations Sector
  • Pierre-Etienne Gautier, SNCF, for the Train-Track Interaction Sector
  • Joachim Mayer, DB AG, for the Rolling Stock Sector
    Emilio Maestrini has been appointed interim Chairman of the RSF Energy Sector.

Mr Enno Wiebe, from the Rolling Stock Sector, presented the updated version of the RSF Strategy Programme. The document is a road map for work in the Rail System Forum and provides initial ideas on how to address the challenges that the railway sector will face in the upcoming decades.
The RSF Plenary Session underlined the fact that that the Strategy Programme was a working document and needed to be completed step-by-step with ideas from each sector.
A “final” version will be available in late 2011. The RSF Strategy Programme will then become a suitable working tool to assess projects and to support decision-making during the opt-in process.

The four sector chairmen and the supporting UIC senior advisors gave an overall update on work carried out in the sectors in 2010 and presented the outlook and aims for 2011.

Roland Nolte, IZT Berlin, reported on the current status of the ARISCC (Adapt Rail Infrastructure to Climate Change) project, undertaken jointly by the RSF and the UIC Environment and Sustainability Platform. The ARISCC project and the UIC RSF Winter and Railways activities will provide recommendations to help IMs and railway undertakings be better prepared to face the upcoming challenges of climate change and severe weather conditions.

Finally, and fully in line with the newly-adopted Terms of Reference, several UIC leaflets received the unanimous approval of the RSF Plenary Session.

The RSF sectors and UIC Rail System Department are now fully prepared to focus on technical matters and related projects.

For more information please contact Annemarie Ebenberger: ebenberger@uic.org

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