With more than 350 Spanish-speaking participants from ten different countries, the first JST international railway seminar was held (in Spanish) on 4 March, attracting experts from the railway sector in Latin America and Europe. Various aspects relating to operational safety in railway transport were discussed during the seminar, such as integration of human factors, cultural transformation in Spain, good practices from the aviation sector and safety data management.
Julián Obaid, President of the JST, said: “The JST would like to thank all the participants and the speakers for having joined this important initiative. Today a milestone has been set thanks to the technical strength of the professionals who make up the sector”.
Diego Di Siervi, National Director of Investigation of Railway Events at the JST, said: “We thank all the speakers and participants who participated in the seminar. It is vitally important for our management to share experiences and knowledge that enables us to strengthen our rail system”.
Dr. Juan Carlos Barrón García, Deputy Director of Human Factors and Accident Investigation at Adif, presented the SIGMA project, a cultural transformation project that ADIF is developing in the field of operational safety.
Dr. Miguel Figueres-Esteban and Lic. Félix García Pacios of RENFE presented a vision for how operators can integrate human factors into RENFE’s operational safety, again thanking the JST and UIC for the invitation to participate in the seminar.
Cap. Robinson David García Jiménez (Columbia) gave a presentation on the integration of good aviation practices into the railway sector. Isabelle Fonverne, Senior Advisor, Safety and Interoperability and Olivier Georger, Safety Database Manager at UIC, then gave a presentation on accident data collected by UIC.
Isabelle Fonverne first presented UIC, and then introduced the topic of accident data at UIC with a short explanation of the history and the reasons for creating the UIC Safety Database in 2006. She demonstrated the increase in member numbers since the launch of the database. Initially consisting of European UIC members, South Korea joined in 2010, Iran in 2011, Turkey in 2012, Saudi Arabia in 2015, Russia in 2018, and Ukraine in 2019.
Ms Fonverne explained the various definitions used: the definition of a significant accident, numbers and their evolution, types of accident and types of victim, with trespassers and suicides and collisions and casualties at level crossings representing the highest number of victims. She also explained the three Cs: causes, circumstances, and consequences.
Olivier Gorger explained the figures shown in detail and the influence of the introduction of figures from RZD (Russian railways), and demonstrated a mapping tool with exact accident locations and related information. He concluded by noting that UIC produces an annual public safety report, available online, and a confidential report available only to participating members. He stressed the long history of safety data collection at UIC and the accident analysis that makes this database so unique and valuable to UIC members.
https://uic.org/safety/safety-performance-group-safety-database/
Level crossing-related data is also collected for ILCAD: www.ilcad.org
About the JST
Based in Buenos Aires, the JST investigates any railway safety event involving a vehicle in motion that causes both death and serious injuries to people and serious damage to rolling stock, railway infrastructure and the environment. In addition, it will also intervene in the event of a collision or derailment, as well as fire, spillage on rolling stock or railway infrastructure, provided that such incidents occur within the territory of the Republic of Argentina.
https://www.argentina.gob.ar/jst/ferroviario
Official communication in Spanish: https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/con-expertos-nivel-mundial-la-jst-dicto-su-primer-seminario-internacional-ferroviario
https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/la-jst-lanza-su-primer-seminario-internacional-ferroviario
https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/flyer_seminario_internacional_2.pdf
