Nr 172 - 16 February 2010

High Speed Rail / Cooperation UIC/APTA (USA)

UIC Chairman, speaker at the opening of the International Practicum on Implementing High-Speed Rail in the United States

On 8 February, 2010, the first International Practi- cum on Implementing High-Speed Rail in the Uni- ted States, jointly hosted by UIC and APTA (American Public Transportation Association) was held in Washington, at the time when the city was hit by historic heavy snowfall.

To begin the practicum, three representatives, Mr. Yoshio Ishida, UIC Chairman, Mr. William Millar, APTA President, and Ms. Karen J Rae, Deputy Ad- ministrator, FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) made opening speeches. Yoshio Ishida, UIC Chairman, holds opening speech at UIC / APTA Practicum in Washington DC. On the right, William Millar, APTA President. Mr. Ishida, UIC Chairman, first praised Amtrak’s best efforts to operate ‘Acela’, the only high-speed train service in the U.S., in the accumulated snow, and also paid respects to the efforts of urban public transportation operators such as WMATA (Wash- ington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) to take various measures against snow damage. He then made the point that a key factor leading to high- speed railway project success was the existence of safe, clean, and reliable public transport networks and emphasized the importance of the role that pu- blic transport could play in high-speed railway pro- jects. Furthermore, he pointed out the significant View of Washington after historic heavy snowfall. Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 2)

contributions the railways could make in the reduc- tion of CO2 emissions in the transport sector and energy saving of the society as a whole. As for the expenditure of the $8 billion President Barack Obama announced at the beginning of this month, he stated that it marked a significant step from a qualitative standpoint, although the volume itself might not be sufficient, and this $8 billion would be the foundation for the development of the future rail- ways of the United States. He expressed his strong expectation that collaboration between UIC and APTA would be developed in the various fields. From left to right: Yoshio Ishida, UIC Chairman, William Millar, Prior to Mr. Ishida’s speech, Mr. Millar, APTA Presi- APTA President, and Karen Rae, FRA Deputy Administrator dent, explained that APTA has been actively invol- ved in the U.S. high-speed projects and highly valued the possible role that UIC, as the global platform for railway technology, could play in the success of the U.S. high speed projects. He stated that high-speed railways would not become available overnight, as is also the case with highway networks and airline systems, and would re- quire several decades to be developed. Then he expressed that $8 billion is a significant down pay- ment. He expressed his appreciation toward the cooperation of UIC on the International Practicum this time, and asked for UIC’s continued support.

In this context, Ms. Rae, FRA Deputy Administrator stated that the ＄8 billion was part of the Eco- nomic Recovery and Reinvestment Act and as such it was expected to enhance economic deve- lopment in communities across the country and establish new industry in the U.S. by providing faster and more energy-efficient transportation. She held the collaboration between UIC and APTA in high esteem.

The five modules of the International Practicum then started with a presentation by Mr. Ignacio Bar- ron de Angoiti, Director of the Passenger Department at UIC. Railway technical experts dispatched from UIC members in Japan, France, Germany, and Spain participated as speakers, and this prac- ticum is to be held in two other cities – Chicago and Los Angeles – after being held in Washing- ton. Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 3)

More than 500 decision-makers attend three regional seminars on High Speed Rail organised by APTA and UIC

Approximately 500 decision-makers attended the three regional seminars on high-speed rail or- ganized by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and UIC. Experts from Spain, Germany, Japan, Korea, Italy and France shared their experience and knowledge, and FRA Ad- ministrator Joseph Szabo and FRA Deputy Administrator Karen Rae were keynote speakers at the workshops.

This is the first set of seminars developed under a new partnership between APTA and UIC. The two groups signed a memorandum of understanding to work together in extensive information-sha- ring covering the various technical, finance and management aspects of planning and building high-speed rail systems.

“I am very happy to be alongside APTA at a time I consider historic for the development of pas- senger rail in North Americ a,” said UIC General Director Jean-Pierre Loubinoux. “The attendence at the three practica demonstrates that the time is right for drastic rail improvement both in the in- cremental improvements and in combination with very high-speed links. “

“The first high speed rail line was launched in Japan over 40 years ago, and there are high-speed rail systems in operation in 12 countries today, ” said APTA President William Millar. “The expe- rience of UIC and the international high-speed rail experts is invaluable to the United State s as we implement and adapt high-speed rail to our operating environment. We look forward to a pro- ductive and continuing working relationship with our friends at UIC as we turn President Obama’s high- speed rail vision into reality.”

Emphasizing the importance of having intermodal connections to high-speed rail, Loubinoux said, “Experience in the world has taught us the benefit of complementary intermodal connections. The point of having stations in major airports and developing a complementary rather than competi- tive approach with other modes of transport could form new partnerships between airlines and rail operators in the future, as seen in Europe and Asia.”

“In addition to giving Americans more travel options, high-speed rail is a new industry that will create tens of thousands of good, ‘green’ American jobs,” said Millar. “High-speed rail also helps our country meet our national goals of carbon emission reduction and energy independence.”

“High-speed rail is good for mobility, sustainability, the environment and for the people as it creates employment and business through infrastructure and new services,” concluded Loubinoux. “UIC is proud to bring all its experience to help the American transportation leaders make the right choices as soon as possible, so that America can join the international high-speed rail community“. Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 4)

APTA and UIC developed three regional seminars to provide U.S. decision makers with the infor- mation necessary to implement high-speed rail. The seminars, titled “International Practicum on Implementing High-Speed Rail in the United States,” were held on February 8-9 in Washington, DC; February 9-11 in Chicago, IL; and February 11-13 in Los Angeles, CA. The programs feature practitioners from high-speed rail systems around the world and will focus on best practices and lessons learned from European and Asian systems.

APTA is the leading voice for bus and rail transportation in North America. It is also legacy orga- nization of the former High Speed Ground Transportation Association, which, in 2007 integrated its members and assets into the APTA structure and now functions through the constituent high- speed and intercity rail committee.

UIC meets U.S Minister

UIC Chairman and Director General visit Ray LaHood, U.S Secretary of Transportation On February 9, 2010, as the representatives of UIC, the international railway association with a voluntary membership of approximately 200 railways world- wide, UIC Chairman Yoshio Ishida and UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux made an official visit to Secretary Ray LaHood, U.S. Department of Transportation. This visit was the first in UIC history and was related to the International Practicum on Implementing High-Speed Rail being held in the United States, jointly hosted by UIC and APTA.

In the U.S., in addition to President Obama’s an- nouncement at the beginning of this month of 8 bil- From left to right: Yoshio Ishida, UIC Chairman, Ray LaHood, lion dollar expenditure for high-speed rail projects in Secretary of Transportation at the US Government, Jean-Pierre 13 corridors, another 2.5 billion dollar expenditure Loubinoux, UIC Director General in the FY 2010 budget has already been decided, and a 1 billion dollar expenditure is expected in the proposed FY 2011 budget. These all show the conti- nuing increase in the expectations toward railways as the environmentally friendly mode of transporta- tion. Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 5)

At the meeting, Chairman Ishida first asked the Se- cretary LaHood for DoT’s understanding and co- operation, by saying that this International Practicum marks an important building step for the future and that Chairman Ishida would like to further enhance the collaboration between UIC and APTA. Chairman Ishida also strongly asked for DoT’s active partici- pation in UIC activities, especially in the UIC Gene- ral Assembly to be held in Tokyo this June, because DoT has been an associate member of UIC since 1973.

In this regard, while pointing out the importance of From left to right: Interpreter, Yoshio Ishida, UIC Chairman, Ray continuous investment for the railway improvement LaHood, US Secretary of Transportation, Karen Rae, FRA De- and development, Director General Jean-Pierre puty Administrator, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General Loubinoux stated that UIC, as the global platform for railway technology, is determined to support various measures to be taken by DoT, so that major expen- ditures for railways in the U.S. will continue in 2011 and beyond.

Secretary LaHood expressed his thanks to UIC for its deep involvement in the holding of the In- ternational Practicum on Implementing High-Speed Rail in the United States, and stated that DoT also greatly esteems the technological expertise of UIC. FRA Deputy Administrator Ms. Karen J Rae was also present at the meeting, and these four top representatives confirmed the fostering of the cooperative relationship between UIC and DoT, thus ending the extremely fruitful meeting. Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 6)

Cooperation with World Bank

UIC signs a MoU with the World Bank: New Partnership to Leverage World Bank Group Experience in Railway Transport Sector

Future collaboration to profit developing countries

The World Bank Group and UIC agreed to forma- lize cooperation to develop and undertake a num- ber of initiatives to benefit the railways sector in developing countries. Under a Memorandum of Un- derstanding (MoU) signed on 11 February, the two organizations will share knowledge, lessons lear- ned, information and data. The MoU was signed by Jamal Saghir, Director, Energy, Transport, and Water Department, on behalf of the World Bank Group. Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General, si- gned on behalf of the International Union of Rail- ways. Yoshio Ishida, UIC Chairman was also Signature of the MoU between the World Bank and UIC. From present in Washington for this event. left to right, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General, and Jamal Saghir, Director, Energy, Transport and Water Depart- ment, World Bank Group “This partnership is aligned with World Bank Group’s Transport Business Strategy: Safe, Clean, and Affordable… Transport for Development.” said Jamal Saghir. “The Bank Group’s lending for railway projects has significantly increased over the past few years. The Business Strategy proposes to conti- nue this trend to grow a more diversified transport portfolio that addresses transport–for-trade needs and which would also give greater emphasis to pu- blic transport service and to energy efficiency.”

To support the growing lending portfolio, the Bank Group wants to continue to leverage international experience in railway policy, industry organization and institutions, management structure, asset ma- nagement and modernization, investment prioritiza- tion, opportunities for private sector participation, and sector regulation.

“The signature of this agreement represents an important milestone for the development of a pro- mising cooperation between the World Bank and UIC as the worldwide association representing the rail transport sector”, underlined Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General. “The wealth of railway expertise, professional knowledge and experience collected at UIC thanks to its members’ Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 7) contributions – with around 200 on-going railway co- operation projects – will enable UIC to effectively support the World Bank’s strategy of “Safe, Clean and Affordable…Transport for Development” serving economic growth, with particular focus on develo- ping countries. Recently, UIC has put stronger focus on activities related to energy efficiency, sustainabi- lity of rail transport, cost effectiveness, a series of objectives that fit perfectly with the World Bank’s strategy. The recent launching at UIC of railway co- operation activities tailored to each region of the world should also allow increased synergies with the World Bank”. In addition to activities involving research, data and analysis exchange, database access, and participation in seminars, in the MoU the two organizations have identified areas for possible fu- ture collaboration:

*developing multidiscipline training programs addressing the changing environment of railway restructuring and upgrading technology;

*carrying out traffic flow studies to identify major railway corridors around the world.

The Paris-based UIC currently groups 200 member railways from all parts of the world. Its main mission consists in promoting the development of rail transport at world level and organising in- ternational cooperation among its members. Main cooperation projects are focusing on technical harmonisation and railway standards, development of freight and passenger business (including high speed), sustainability of rail transport, safety and security, training issues. UIC maintains close cooperation links with over 50 international or professional organisations.

The Transport Sector constitutes a significant portion of the World Bank Group’s portfolio, with lending of US$36.7 billion - more than 15 percent of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) commitments - since 2000. In the last decade the railways portfolio has reached over US$ 3.5 billion. Over 40 percent of the railways lending was for East Asia and the Pacific Region, followed by Europe and Central Asia Region (25 percent). Fiscal year 2009 railways lending reached close to US$ 1 billion, totaling more than 15 percent of the Bank’s transport commitments for the year.

For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/transport and www.uic.org Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 8)

Business Partnership 1520 Strategic Partnership : Regional Conference in the Baltics (Tallin, 8-10 February)

RZD organized the II. International Regional Rail Business Forum “1520 Strategic Partnership : Baltic Region” in Tallin 8-10 February 2010. The event was hosted by Kaido Simmermann, Chairman and Executive Director of Estonian Railways. 16 nationalities were re- presented among almost 300 high level participants from the rail- ways, logistic providers and politics, including the CEOs of numerous 1520 railways.

The Business Forum aims to promote links between 1520 railways. Regional forums held between annual meetings in Sochi are meant to develop a business dialogue in and among the four subregions of the “1520 area”: Central Asia, Caucasus, Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

The Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves opened this top level Kaido Simmermann, Chairman and event by stressing the need for a stable political framework and trust Executive Director of Estonian between business partners. Transportation had to serve the well Railways being of citizens. In this regard border crossings to Russia should be accelerated and the Rail Baltica project of the European Union should be implemented.

Juhan Parts, Minister of Economy and Communications of Estonia, promised to continue leaving the profits inside Estonian Railways in order to finance investments. Kaido Simmermann stressed that it was now the time to design the future of the railways. The EU should be interested in using the Baltics as a bridge to the 1520 rail network. Vladimir Yakunin reported about the good cooperation between the management of Estonian and Russian Railways. He suggested that the Eurasian rail link could become an issue of interest for the EU and reminded the leaders of all railways to work closely together in the interest of the customers instead of becoming a barrier to inte- grated products. Moreover, President Yakunin informed the audience about the new customs union between Russia, White Russia and Ka- zakhstan as of 1 July 2010. RZD was also firmly committed to invest into accelerating the transportation time on the Transsiberian Rail- way to seven days. Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways RZD UIC Freight Director and Coordinator for Russia, Oliver Sellnick, re- presented UIC at the 1520 Strategic Partnership and confirmed the support of UIC to work towards linking 1435 and 1520 railways around the world by different means including the creation of global Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 9) standards, promoting automated track gauge chan- geover systems, coordinating Eurasian corridors, working on paperless transport solutions and orga- nizing events like the upcoming 2nd Global Rail Freight Conference in Saint Petersburg 6-7 July hosted by RZD. He underlined the importance of using the economic crisis to position rail for the re- covery in terms of infrastructure, processes, inte- grated products and customer contracts.

Participants brainstormed how to develop the Bal- Thoomas Hendrik, Estonian President tics into a turntable for traffic streams between Eu- rope, Russia and Asia. They debated how to achieve a better integration of different modes into seemless transportation chains. One panel focused on infrastructure requirements and concluded the need for increasing axel load and train length se- lectively on individual lines depending on customer requirements.

Boris Lapidus, Senior Vice-President RZD, closed the conference and summarized the key require- ments for developing international traffic: Harmoni- zing railway law, cooperation in order to create an integrated rail system, the need to simplify customs procedures (example: customs controls on board of running trains), searching for new financial models Oliver Sellnick, UIC Freight Director and Coordinator for Russia to fund infrastructure investments.

European Research

Invitation to the ERRAC EWG WP06 Workshop, Brussels, 18 March 2010 (Venue to be confirmed soon)

The overall scope of the WP6 Evaluation Working Group, within the ERRAC ROADMAP Project, is to bring forward and enhance the work done in providing essential information and tools on les- sons learnt from the evaluation of past projects, to allow relevant rail related stakeholders and roadmap producers to make better choices and decisions, to achieve a more effective and mea- surable success of future rail research projects, both in terms of a systemic-oriented use of re- sources and in terms of concrete outcomes and real market uptake, for the future evolution of the rail industry. Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 10)

During the past years, a great number of rail research projects have been funded by the European Commission in previous Framework Programmes, and billions of euros have been spent to this end. Yet it has not been easy to gain full awareness of all the relevant research that has been car- ried out. Valuable research results are often lost and the risk of overlapping and/or of generating redundant rail project initiatives is significant.

A good process of thinking in advance, based on lessons learnt from other projects, can lead to a much better focus that can guarantee concrete market uptake, for the future rail industry and market in general.

You are therefore warmly invited to the forthcoming Workshop organised by the Evaluation Wor- king Group of the ERRAC ROADMAP project, for 18 March 2010 in Brussels, (venue to be confir- med), to gain insight on lessons learnt from project evaluations and share opinions and contributions to the discussion on more efficient use of resources for the way forward.

The draft Agenda of the workshop can be found at: http://www.unife.org/page.asp?pid=167

Please confirm your presence to Elena.Garcia-Sagues to: [email protected] by the 22nd of February.

News from UIC Members

Russia : New high-speed train service to link Helsinki and St Petersburg

By the end of 2010, high-speed Allegro trains will start running between St Petersburg and Hel- sinki. This service will reduce the journey time between the two cities from 6 to 3.5 hours.

The high-speed Allegro trains will replace the Sibelius and Repin trains currently operating between Helsinki and Moscow. The launch of the Allegro service will allow the number of journeys between Russia and Finland to be gradually increased.

RZD Vice President Mikhail Akulov said: “For RZD, work on the project for a high-speed service linking St Petersburg and Helsinki is of great importance, as this route is an element of Russia’s high-speed rail system. Passenger travel between Russia and Finland accounts for around 52% of RZD’s entire volume of international transport. We plan to increase the volume of passenger transport between the countries by 12% each year, until 2014.” Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 11)

Each Allegro train has seven carriages, and total ca- pacity of 344 passengers. The Allegro can reach a speed of 220 km/h, but thanks to the body tilt of up to 8 degrees, the effect of the centrifugal force will be minimized when rounding curves, ensuring maxi- mum comfort for passengers.

Germany: New contracts for Veolia Transport

Veolia Verkehr, Veolia Transport’s German subsidiary, is continuing to grow in Germany with 13 new regional passenger rail lines in three different regions: Saxony, Bavaria and North Rhine- Westphalia.

The first contract concerns the Leipzig regional rail system. Veolia Verkehr operates a 219 km system with eight lines. The contract is for three years and runs until end 2012, when transporta- tion in the Leipzig region will be reorganized, with completion of the rail tunnel that will cross the city. This contract, which took effect in December 2009, corresponds to 22 diesel railcars and 150 employees taken on by Veolia Verkehr.

In Bavaria, the Bayerische Regiobahn (BRB) operates a 2 lines system of approximately 200 km in the area of Augsburg. The contract started in December 2008 and will run until end 2019. In 2009, the contract was extended by the line Augsburg-Ingolstadt-Eichstätt. Veolia Transport will be taking on 95 new employees and operating 28 diesel railcars, which travel around 3 million km/year. One year after BRB brought the Augsburg-Schongau line into service, the expertise of Veolia Verkehr was recognized, with a rise in passenger numbers on these lines formerly opera- ted by Deutsche Bahn, thanks to the policy of close communication with passengers. BRB contri- buted to this improvement with a new customer-relations service, an improved ticketing system and child-friendly facilities in the trains.

Lastly, in North Rhine-Westphalia, NordWestBahn (NWB) is operating three new lines between Northern Rhineland and Westphalia. The contract, which started at the end of 2009, runs for 16 years, until 2025. NWB will have to recruit some 90 new employees, taking the total to around 500 people, to operate a 1,054 km system with approximately 100 diesel railcars. In December 2010, two additional lines will be added between Oberhausen and Duisburg-Ruhrort and between Ober- hausen and Dorsten.

"In the area of management and deregulation of its rail network, Germany has always been a pio- neer. Veolia Transport has been active since the opening of this network and is very steadily win- ning new market share. I congratulate our German teams for these fresh successes that strengthen our position in this country, where Veolia Transport has always had high ambitions" said Cyrille du Peloux, Chief Executive Officer, Veolia Transport. Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 (page 12)

Next meetings scheduled

*17 February 2010: Ohsg - occupational health safety group (UIC HQ) *2 March 2010: Ssmg - safety system management group bruxelles (BRUSSELS) *3 March 2010: Rail system forum steering board (UIC Headquarters) *4 March 2010: Taf steering board n14 (Brussels, UIC Office)

A Complete schedule of UIC meetings (as well as statutory meetings, events, conferences) is available through the UIC website: http://www.uic.org/meetings/ or from the Home page: “Schedule of meetings”.

UIC e-news Editor: Marie Plaud Lay-out: Marija Petkovski Communications Department, Nr 172 - 16 February 2010 Thank you for your comments and suggestions. To subscribe to the UIC eNews mailing list please send an e-mail to: [email protected]