The electronic newsletter of the International Union of Railways n°33 - 4th December 2006

Infrastructure

UIC participated to the Annual RailNetEurope Business Conference in Vienna

The Annual RailNetEurope (RNE) Business Conference took place on 30th November in Vienna and was well attended by more than 180 participants from Infrastructure and Railway Undertaking companies and other related businesses.

The morning programme was devoted to updating the participants on RNE achievements to date and future plans in the areas of the international timetabling processes, corridor mana- gement, IT and European Performance Regime.

The afternoon session was split between two Panel discussions.

The first related to the Key tasks and Market expectations of organisations involved in Rail Infrastructure Managers Business. Mr Gerard Dalton, UIC Director Infrastructure Department, was a member of the panel together with Dr. Johannes Ludewig, CER Executive Director, Mr Michael Robson, EIM Secretary General and Ms. Asa Tysklind from the European Commission Directorate General for Energy & Transport.

The second discussion related to European hinterland Traffic - Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, at which Mr Eric Peetermans, Chairman of the UIC Combine transport Group participated along with Dr. Eric Pfaffmann, from Railion Deutschland AG.

The Conference was also attended by Mr Luc Aliadière, UIC Chief Executive, and by Mr Oliver Sellnick, UIC Director Railway Undertaking Department.

Further information can be found on the RNE Website: http://www.railneteurope.com

1 Sustainable Development

UIC Meeting with European Environment Agency "Transport and Environment: facing a dilemma" On 29th November a special meeting between UIC Environment Platform Chairman and European Environment Agency (EEA) has been held at UIC Headquarters in Paris, opened by UIC CEO Luc Aliadière and joined by some members of the UIC Core Group Environment as well as by Bulgarian Railways representatives.

The European Environment Agency, (technical branch of EU Commission for environmental issues based in Copenhagen) has been repre- sented by Peder Jensen, responsible for "Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism", the most used and reliable set of environmental indicators for the Transport Sector in Europe.

The last TERM Report, published in April 2006, emphasized with specific data how transport sector in Europe is still far from reaching pat- terns of sustainable development and how avia- tion and road transport are increasing their negative effects on environment. The TERM Report provides a huge quantity of data that show the latest trends. After a presentation from Mr. Joachim Kettner (DB), Chairman of UIC Environment, Energy and Sustainability Platform, on the benefits of railways towards other modes and the tech- nical collection of data from the railways sector, UIC and EEA shared their knowledge and results on reporting indicators. EEA appreciated the UIC work on "environmental indicators for railways", the working docu- ment that will most probably be officialised as UIC Leaflet very soon. UIC and EEA agreed in:

- bsharing latest data on noise impact and environmental indicators of railways. - cooperating for the technical development of new softwares for eco-comparison between modes of transport. - promoting workshops on technical aspects of sustainable mobility.

For more information please contact Raimondo Orsini, UIC Senior Advisor for Environment: [email protected]

2 “TRAINER” Kick-off meeting: more efficient way of train-driving

On 16 November in Ljubljana, Slovenian railways hosted the kick-off meeting of “TRAINER”, a European project, cofinanced by the Intelligent Energy Executive Agency, that aims at improving energy-efficiency by railways in at least 5 EU-coun- tries, including Eastern- European: The Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy and Greece.

UIC is supporting this project and will link its results with other railways needs in Europe and the world.

Eco-driving is the “core busi- ness”: training programmes and facilities will be established to initiate and optimise energy- efficiency improving measures by railway operators.

Improving energy-efficiency by railways has a very high potential. Recent field tests in Germany show that for both elec- tric trains and diesel trains energy savings of 10% on average can rather easily be achie- ved. “TRAINER” will result in an annual 1 Mton CO2 emission avoidance. The potential for all 150,000 EU25 train drivers is an annual CO2 emission avoidance of 6.5 Mtons.

“TRAINER” will focus on energy-efficient driving but will go beyond, addressing additional energy saving possibilities concerning technology (rolling stock and infrastructure) and organisation. Long Term Agreements, which include Energy Management Systems (EMS), will also be addressed as means to accelerate and substantiate energy-efficiency impro- ving measures in the railway sector.

For more information please contact Raimondo Orsini, UIC Senior Advisor for Environment: [email protected]

3 World / Legal

AFRICARAIL / UNIDROIT colloquium in Lomé (Togo):

UIC recommends the ratification of the railway rolling stock Protocol to the Cape Town Convention

Organised with the support of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg and sponsored by the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Togo, an AFRICARAIL / UNI- DROIT colloquium took place in Lomé on 17 November entitled “The Cape Town Convention and its railway protocol: a new driving force for railway investment in Africa”.

Prominent participants at the colloquium included Jean-Pierre Lehman, UIC Legal Director and Herbert Kronke, Secretary General of UNIDROIT (Intergovernmental organisation com- posed of 70 Member States working primarily on the unification and modernisation of interna- tional private law).

The colloquium was also attended by representatives of the African Union, the Union of African Railways, ADB (African Development Bank), WADB (West African Development Bank), ECO- WAS (Economic Community of West African States), UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union) and representatives of ministries from Guinea, Nigeria, Togo and Benin.

Four round table sessions took place focussing on the potential role of railway infrastructure in promoting development in Africa, the funding of railway projects, the Cape Town Convention and the funding of railway rolling stock. Adopted on 16 November 2001 in Cape Town (South Africa), the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment seeks to facilitate the funding of equipment deployed on the territory of more than one State by laying down inter- national regulations relating to the constitution, registration and implementation of “internatio- nal interests” in such assets.

A first protocol relating to aircraft equipment was adopted jointly by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) at the same time as the Convention.

In anticipation of these negotiations and following on from two regional colloquiums which had already taken place in Europe (Warsaw) and Latin America (Mexico), the joint organisation of this colloquium by AFRICARAIL (intergovernmental organisation based in Niamey in Nigeria and tasked with coordinating an interregional railway project connecting four States: Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Togo) and UNIDROIT provided the opportunity to bring together parties involved in funding railway projects from across the African continent and to set out the financial advantages that States and investors could stand to gain from the application of the future railway protocol.

UIC now invites States to ratify the Cape Town Convention as well as the new protocol rela- ting to railway rolling stock at a Diplomatic Conference to be held in Luxemburg from 13 to 24 February 2007.

For more information please contact Jean-Pierre Lehman, UIC Legal Director: [email protected]

4 Freight / Legal

Contract of Use Seminar in Tehran: UIC presents its Contract of Use for Wagons

UIC’s Middle East Group organised a seminar, 13 to 14 November, on the new Contract of Use for freight Wagons (GCU) in international traffic. This followed up on the work group’s meeting last June in Istanbul where represen- tatives of the Turkish, Iranian and Syrian rail- ways were present.

The seminar was an opportunity for the 40 spe- cialists in railway wagon law from the various companies in attendance to analyse the contents of this contract (and its appendices) on an operational level. The GCU regulates the return of wagons that have been used as means of transport by railway undertakings, under the new COTIF agreement which ente- red into force on July 1st, 2006.

Guaranteeing the legal reliability of conditions of use frameworks, in particular regarding damage caused to, and by, wagons, the Contract of Use for Wagons was negotiated between the railways, represented by UIC, ERFA (the European Rail Freight Association), and owners of private wagons belonging to UIP (the International union of Private wagon owners). Jean-Pierre Lehman, UIC Legal Director, presenting the GCU in Tehran.

The GCU multilateral contractual framework based on the Uniform Rules CUV for all players in inter- national freight traffic contains all the relevant mutual rights and obligations of railway undertakings and wagon keepers regarding the use of wagons taking into account and balancing the different interests of the parties of the contract.

The GCU in many cases saves the parties of the contract the need of negotiating bilateral agreements and hereby materially contributes to ensuring wagon interoperability in a liberalised European rail market.

The GCU has replaced the RIV Agreement as well as UIC Leaflets 433 (Standard General Conditions for the Introduction into Service and Operation of P Wagons) and 922 (Apportionment between railway undertakings of compensation for damage or injury resulting from the use of privately-owned wagons).

For more information please contact Jean-Pierre Lehman, UIC Legal Director: [email protected] 5 Security

Annual meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE):

UIC addressed the Inland Transport Committee rail transport group on security conditions for border crossings

On the occasion of its meeting of 15 November in Geneva, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) invited Jacques Colliard to report on developments relating to the handling of security matters by UIC and in particular action taken to facilitate border crossings.

After presenting the Security Platform, Jacques Colliard, UIC Head of Security Mission, repor- ted on the Schengenrail project which sought to define a common analysis method for European border points in the context of the requirements of the Schengen acquis relating to immigration control. This project was led by the Polish railways and examined the border points between Slovenia and Croatia, Hungary and Romania and Slovakia and the Ukraine in 2004 and those between Poland and Russia and Poland and the Ukraine in 2005. The deli- verables were presented to the European Commission (Justice, Freedom and Security DG) on 16 June 2006 and were also the subject of a working seminar with the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at External Borders (FRONTEX) in Lublin (Poland) on 8 and 9 November last. The UNECE rail transport group confirmed its interest in working with UIC in the context of the development of international rail transport, which constitutes one of its priorities. This working partnership between UIC and UNECE complements existing partnerships with ECMT, OSCE, the European Commission, etc.

For more information please contact Jacques Colliard, UIC Head of Security Mission: [email protected]

Safety

European Level Crossing Research Forum (ELCRF)

The ELCRF is an informal group that brings together rail and highway safety professionals from European countries develo- ped as an on-going activity following the 8th Level Crossing Safety and Trespass Symposium in 2004.

The purpose of the ELCRF is to provide a network to improve the safety of the “at-grade road/rail interface” (level crossings) by faci- litating the exchange of information on experiences and lessons learned, as well as technological concepts to support understan- ding and advancement.

Meetings held so far have been very successful, with countries and companies attending, giving presentations on current level crossing development programmes and aspirations for the future. 6 Whilst the perception of risk of level crossings to the road sector is small – based on the very low numbers of fatalities at level crossings when compared with the several thousands that die on Europe’s roads each year – the risk of accident at a level crossing to the rail sector (cur- rently 37% of all accidents recorded on the UIC safety database for 2005) remains very signi- ficant but is not a risk that can be managed by the rail sector in isolation.

ELCRF’s principle objective is the continued drive towards a much closer relationship with the roads sector, supporting their understanding of the issue and developing a position whereby the “at-grade road/rail interface” (level crossings) is being managed as a bi-modal issue. The initial aim is to learn from each other and share research findings thus enabling the rail com- munity, with joint input from the road sector, to lead the development of future strategies of a joined-up nature using commonly accepted practices that in turn reduces the level of risk for the rail community and raises the profile of level crossings to a true “road/rail interface”.

The forum started with around 11 countries and is now almost at 20; the roads sector involvement is developing but still has plenty of room for expansion.The following common core subject areas have emerged as issues that members of ELCRF have identified: evaluation, economics, engi- neering (road and rail), enabling, education, enforcement.

ELCRF meets approximately twice per year and is entirely self-funding. The recent meeting on 10th November was held in Malmö, Sweden and was jointly hosted by Banverket the rail infrastructure manager and Vägverket, the Swedish road authority.

The road sector representatives (Sweden, Denmark, Germany) who spoke, gave resounding support for the kind of joined-up thinking that the ELCRF initiative presents. The meeting also heard that the highways team of the French Ministry of Transport are planning to participate at the next meeting.

In an opening presentation from Simon Fletcher, UIC Senior Advisor for Safety and Operations, the meeting heard of developments from the UIC in which he also spoke of the 2006 Level Crossing Safety and Trespass Symposium in Montreal and the 2008 event that will take place at the UIC in Paris. Being strategically placed within the rail community, Simon also spoke of the role that the UIC could play in supporting the development of the relationships with the road sector; he also spoke of the absolute need for this issue to be managed as a bimodal one and applauded the efforts that ELCRF has made until now in espousing this approach.

Lazlo Tordai, on behalf of the SELCAT partners, outlined the initial developments following the kick off meeting in September and announced the kick off meeting of Work Package 1 that will take place at the UIC on 30th November.

ELCRF were delighted to welcome the European Rail Agency for the first time; Victor Risota from the ERA’s Safety Unit made a presentation on the work of the ERA and where level cros- sings fit into the their safety monitoring activity. His paper demonstrated the difficulties that obtaining reliable data presents and then when there is some data with which to work, it is vital to use the correct scaling factor to ensure accurate interpretation of the facts.

Amongst other new participants was Jim Moore from Northern Ireland.

ELCRF have been developing a set of Terms of Reference for their work that have been draf- ted from a template that the UIC have assisted in developing. This is now being consulted amongst members and a final version will be approved by the group at their next meeting on 9th March 2007. 7 At the end of the meeting its current chairman Aidan Nelson from RSSB in the UK, announ- ced that he will be retiring from RSSB in the spring of 2007. This means that ELCRF will now be seeking to select a new chairman – this will have to be agreed by the members at the next meeting.

A further meeting of ELCRF is planned to take place in Rome, Italy on 9th March 2007. Details of this meeting will be posted on the ELCRF website – www.levelcrossing.org/elcf

For more information please contact Simon Fletcher, UIC Senior Advisor for Operations and Safety: [email protected]

Next meetings scheduled

December 04 December 2006: Global View Kick off Meeting (Paris) 05 December 2006: Meeting of the Preparatory Group for the International Railway Academy (Paris) 06 December 2006: Electricity Distribution Costs (Paris) 07 December 2006: GTC Executive Committee (Paris) 07 December 2006: UIC General Assembly (Paris) 07 December 2006: UIC Executive Committee (Paris) 07 December 2006: World Executive Committee (Paris) 11-12 December 2006: ERA Support Group (London) 11 December 2006: INNOTRACK Steering Committee (Brussels) 12-13 December 2006: MODTRAIN / MODCONTROL (Erlangen) 13 December 2006: CGSP – Safety Platform (Berlin) 13-14 December 2006: UIC Project Managers meeting (Paris) 14 December 2006: Energy and Climate Change Experts Network (Paris) 14 December 2006: MODTRAIN - MODLINK- EUCAB(Florence) 15 December 2006: MODTRAIN CBM meeting (Paris) 15 December 2006: MODTRAIN TMT meeting (Paris) 18 December 2006: MODTRAIN / MODUSER (Paris) 18-19 December 2006: RailEnergy SP1 (Paris) 19 December 2006: MODTRAIN / MODLINK (Berlin)

A Complete schedule of UIC meetings (as well as statutory meetings, events, confe- rences) is available through the UIC website: http://www.uic.asso.fr/baseinfo/reu- nion/ or from the Home page : “Schedule of meetings”.

UIC e-news responsible: Marie Plaud Communications Department, 4th December 2006 Thank you for your comments and suggestions. For any additional e-mail address in your Railway please contact [email protected] 8