INTRODUCTION
The Asia Pacific Region has the World’s largest railway network, and it is also hosting various track gauges at a large scale, from broad to standard to meter gauge. Many railway operators are facing gauge change in their own network or at border crossing with their neighbours, like from Kazakhstan or Mongolia to China (1,520mm/1,435mm) and within Australia (1,600mm/1,435mm/1,000mm/1,067mm).
The ASEAN Sub-Region has about 80% of its railway network made of meter gauge type of lines (1,000 and 1,067mm), and there is a real need to establish specific standards related to the meter-system and the 1,000-1,435mm gauge changeover system. India and the Sub-Continent, as well as Australia have 1,000 and 1,067mm (three foot six inch) gauges.
It is therefore recommended to create a dedicated Working Group on these issues that would help reinforcing / establishing clear guidelines for meter gauge standards and break of gauge, in general.
This collaboration would also be extended to UIC’s Asia Pacific partners, such as UNESCAP in Bangkok, ADB in Manila and AIIB in Beijing, as well as the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, that is managing the Special Working Group on the SKRL-Singapore to Kunming Rail Link, and it would be also beneficial in return to each party concerned.
This project has been formally approved by UIC Asia-Pacific Region in 2021, we now just need to validate the next steps and build a concrete project in 2024.
OBJECTIVES
The goals of the program are to share knowledge and best practices, to discuss better
solutions and to find ways to cooperate. The main themes are:
- Meter gauge situation in the region
- UIC Standards
- Gauge changing system and different existing solutions
- Challenges on the rail infrastructure components
- Experiences of members in Asia-Pacific region
PROGRAMME
REGISTRATION
Contact
Ms. Beatrice Ségéral, Senior Advisor, Institutional Relations & Asia-Pacific Region: segeral at uic.org