2019 ECCO project

Rail Freight Corridors (ECCO)

UIC IRS on Rail Freight Forward Contingency Management handbook

In 2019, UIC published the Contingency Management handbook for Railway Undertakings. This handbook was committed to by the Rail Freight Forward coalition (RFF), as mentioned in its vision paper “30 by 2030”. It outlines harmonised international contingency measures whenever major disruptions happen on the European Railway network. In 2020, UIC standardised the handbook into an International Railway Solution. As such, it is available for free via the UIC web shop.

The Handbook describes how Railway Undertakings should cooperate with each other and with Infrastructure Managers. It closely aligns with the Contingency Management Handbook of Infrastructure Managers. Furthermore, it outlines scenarios of resource pooling between Undertakings in order to best manage large incidents, and the regulatory mitigation measures that would be needed to make that possible. These measures will allow the rail sector to maximise use of infrastructure capacity during a major international disruption. Such an incident can, both in duration and scale, jeopardise major trade flows and risk undermining customer confidence in rail’s resilience as a transport mode.

The Handbook has been endorsed by BLS Cargo, CFL Cargo, DB Cargo AG, the ERFA Board -representing its 30 members, Fret SNCF, Lineas, RCG and SBB Cargo. All other Undertakings have been invited to join this effort to improve the resilience of European Rail Freight.