UIC held its General Assembly at the close of its centenary year

The Executive Board and the 101st General Assembly of UIC, the worldwide railway organisation, were held respectively on 7 and 8 December 2022, in hybrid mode. The meetings were chaired by UIC Chair Mr Krzysztof Mamiński and UIC Director General Mr François Davenne.

The General Assembly started with a keynote speech delivered by Ms Maruxa Cardama, Secretary General of the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport SLoCaT, an important partner of UIC. In her speech, Ms Cardama said:
“The sustained engagement of UIC in international multistakeholder initiatives at COPs can be critical to champion key aspects. I can think of i) railway taking the lead on integrated multimodal transport networks based on the framework of Avoid-Shift-Improve strategies; ii) of rebalancing the electrification debate at the service of all modes and types of vehicles both for passengers and freight; iii) of championing electrification as a strategy for socio economic development and energy access – clean energy – in the Global South.”
Adding: “More than ever, the engagement of UIC at international climate discussions and initiatives remains critical to the goals of promoting rail as an effective tool for decarbonising transport, and as the main backbone of both mass public sustainable transport systems and electrified intermodal freight transport within 10 years.”

Report from the UIC Chairman

Mr Krzysztof Mamiński debriefed the General Assembly on the outcomes of the Regional Chairmen and Executive Board meetings held prior to the General Assembly. He recapped on the achievements and challenges faced in 2022 and gave guidance for 2023.
Highlighting the new UIC Work Programme, he said:
“Following on from the completed work programme and with the five main focus areas remaining unchanged, a new work programme for 2023-2025 is about to be launched. Rail must play a leading role in decarbonising the transport sector globally and regionally. It is the most sustainable and the only mass transport that is currently ready to effectively meet our climate challenges. It must therefore be placed at the heart of the development of future mobility and global logistics chains.
[…] We have a lot of work ahead of us to unlock the full potential of the railways. We need to improve our cost efficiency through digitisation and innovation, solve interoperability problems and capacity constraints, and above all we need to invest in modern infrastructure and rolling stock. As President of the UIC, I am determined to continue working with all our members to ensure that rail plays an important global role in ensuring the sustainability of the transport sector and in achieving the aforementioned climate and environmental goals.”

The General Assembly ratified through a vote the decision taken on 4 March 2022 by the UIC Chair and Director General to suspend the involvement of Russian and Belarusian railways from UIC activities.

Report from the UIC Director General

Speaking of the achievements of the past year and the challenges ahead, François Davenne presented the forthcoming UIC 2023-2025 Work Programme.
The programme is underpinned by the same five strategic focus areas as previously, as well as taking into account the UIC Manifesto, the Vision of Rail 2030, the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (ERJU) roadmap, with special emphasis on regional empowerment and digitalisation.

Adopted in July, the Manifesto contains Existing and future solutions for rail to serve the planet and people and presents the development of concrete solutions, taking into account the significant role of the railways and the need to:

Transform cities and connect communities
Use clean energy, technology and innovation
Promote intermodality and seamless connections; and
Transform the customer experience

These three documents, the UIC Work Programme, Vision 2030 and the UIC Manifesto, form the basis on which the UIC will conduct strategic actions for the railways over the next 5, 10 and 15 years.

Mr Davenne also highlighted the recognition of UIC’s added values, es evidenced by:

A framework agreement was signed with the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) in December 2021 for more articulated cooperation for structured activity in the region
UIC’s involvement in crucial tasks of the System Pillar and Innovation Pillar of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (ER JU): system architecture, 5G, operational rules, cross cutting activities, etc.
UIC is delivering value with OSDM (Open Sales & Distribution Model) data model. The aviation system AMADEUS is fully supporting OSDM
Rail Freight Forward (RFF) is continuing its efforts on DP Rail

Appointments

The UIC Director General announced the following appointments:

The renewal of the mandate of Rail System Forum Chair Mr M. Kunz (SBB) for another two years
The appointment of Ms A. Togari (JR-East) as Chair and Mr L. Schmitt (SNCF) as Vice-Chair of the Standardisation Platform for a three-year mandate
The renewal of the mandate of Ms C. Vanoppen (LINEAS) and Kara Oldhouser, Sustainability Director AMTRAK as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively of the Sustainability Platform for two years
The appointment of Mr Sanjiv Bhutani (RDSO, Indian Railways) as Chair of IRRB, and Dr Andrzej Massel (IK, Poland), Mr Atila Keskin (TCDD, Turkiye), Mr JIANG Hui (CARS, China) and Mr Robert Moffat (ACRI, Australia) as Vice-Chairs for a three-year mandate

Finance

The General Assembly approved the 2022 accounts and three-year business plan.

Agreements with third parties

A number of agreements with third parties were concluded this year, including:

The Memorandum of Understanding with the African Bank of Development (AfDB) and African Development Fund (ADF)
Memorandum of Understanding with the Bureau International des Containers (BIC)
Sharing Agreement with the Rail Industry Safety & Standards Board (RISSB)
Memorandum of Understanding with RailNetEurope

Membership

Application for membership was approved for:

Europe: TELT Tunnel Euralpin Lyon-Turin (France) and Europe Express (France)
Middle East: Etihad Rail (UAE) and Oman Rail
South America: Railways of Chile (EFE) and JST, Transportation Safety Board of Argentina

During the regional reports, particular mention was made with regard to the UIC World Congress on High-Speed Rail, which is to be held for the first time in Africa, in Marrakech, from 7 – 9 March 2023, and organised with the Moroccan Railways (ONCF): https://uichighspeed.org/

To close the centenary year, an exhibition of historic objects was held from 6 – 8 December on the first floor of UIC, jointly organised with the help of SNCF.
The exhibition consisted of photographs, posters, works of art, objects and videos retracing in chronological order the key events and milestones of UIC’s history.
A catalogue containing details about each object was published specially for the occasion.

More information about the UIC centenary is available on the dedicated UIC webpage: https://uic.org/centenary

The 102nd General Assembly will be held on 29 June 2023.