1

The UIC General Assembly unanimously approves the proposed principles

for the modification of the statutes and the definition of the association’s future

governance rules.

Mr Yoshio Ishida, Vice-Chairman of East Japan Railways (EJR), is unanimously elected as UIC Chairman for 2009-2010. He will succeed Mr K.C. Jena on 1 April.

The Executive Board and sub-

sequently General Assembly of

the UIC met on Friday 5 De-

cember at UIC Headquarters in

Paris.

Both meetings were chaired by

Mr K.C. Jena, Chairman of the

Board of Indian Railways (IR)

and featured strong personal in-

volvement from the Chairmen

and Chief Executives of UIC

member railways, including

Messrs Guillaume Pepy, Chair-

man of SNCF and UIC Vice-

Chairman, Hartmut Mehdorn,

Chairman of Deutsche Bahn

(DB) and UIC Europe Chair-

man, Yoshio Ishida, Vice Chair-

man of East Japan Railways

(EJR), Siyabonga Gama, Chief

Executive of Transnet, South

Africa and UIC Africa Chairman,

Süleyman Karaman, Chairman

and Chief Executive of TCDD

and UIC Middle-East Chairman,

Vladimir Yakunin, Chairman of

Russian Railways JSC RZD,

Abdelaziz Chaabane, Chairman

and Chief Executive of SNCFT

and new UAC Chairman (Union

of African Railways).

THE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF RAILWAYS n°126 - 15th December 2008

UIC Governance

From left to right : Luc Aliadière, UIC Chief Executive, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General SNCFInternational, K.C. Jena, Chairman of the Board of Indian Railways (IR),UIC Chairman, Me Béatrice Du-nogué-Gaffié, UIC Provisional Administrator, Vipin Sharma, UIC Deputy Chief Executive.

2n°126 - 15th December 2008

UIC Headquarters was repre-

sented by the Provisional Admi-

nistrator Mrs BéatriceDunogué-Gaffié, Chief Execu-

tive Luc Aliadière and Deputy

Chief Executive Vipin Sharma.

The meetings on 5 December

were of major significance for

the future of UIC because

members were asked to adopt

the founding principles for the

governance and operations of

UIC in future.

At the previous General Assem-

bly in Seoul in May 2008, members had de-

cided to create a statutes working group,

chaired and led by Mrs Béatrice Duno-gué-Gaffié and comprising two representa-

tives appointed by each Chairman of the 6

UIC regions (Europe, Asia, Middle-East,

Africa, North America and Latin America).

The aim of this group was to evaluate the

situation in the light of the conclusions of the

audits conducted by the Provisional Admi-

nistrator, and propose to members the ne-

cessary modifications to the statutes in

order to remove the inconsistencies of pre-

vious versions, and to define an operatio-

nal, effective management structure for the

association.

The result of this work was presented to the Executive Board

by the Provisional Administrator on 5 December, and mem-

bers were asked to adopt a position on 4 main strategic prin-

ciples:

- The decision making process: calculation of votes and voting

rights in the Executive Board and General Assembly (with a

view to avoiding conflicts between the competences of these

two bodies),

- the powers of the Executive Board,

- UIC management,

- procedures for appointing the highest UIC executives.

The members of the Executive Board each gave their position on these principles, the in-

tention being to adopt a shared proposal which could then be submitted to the approval of

the General Assembly. Following this intensive debate, the Executive Board adopted the fol-

lowing principles:

3n°126 - 15th December 2008

- adoption of a common

approach on the deci-

sion making process

(voting rights). The cur-

rent principle, whereby

the number of votes mem-

bers have at the General

Assembly is calculated on

the basis of the member-

ship fees (based on the

characteristics and busi-

ness of the company), is

retained and extended to

the Executive Board.

Amendments will none-

theless be made to intro-

duce an element of

universal suffrage in vo-

ting in addition to the ge-

n e r a l l y - a p p l i c a b l e

proportional voting sys-

tem, in order to rally the

whole railway community

behind certain activities

in the organisation’s exis-

tence.

- within the Executive Board,

members will have a number

of votes corresponding to

the total votes of the active

members from the region

they represent. The Execu-

tive Board will be able to

take certain decisions in a

range of areas which remain

to be determined.

- UIC will remain a single en-

tity, with a General Manager

of Services, who will be so-

lely accountable for the ma-

nagement of UIC. In view of

the independance of the re-

gions, Executive(s) will be in

charge of the Management at

the head of each region:

- a Director Europe (appoin-

ted by the European Regio-

nal Assembly and ratified by

the GA),

From left to right : Laurent Paumelle, Bma, Luc Aliadière, Chief Executive, UIC, Mrs Béatrice Dunogué-Gaffié, Provisional Administrator, UIC, Vipin Sharma, Deputy Chief Executive, UIC, K.C. Jena, Chair-man Indian Railways Board, UIC Chairman, Guillaume Pepy, President SNCF, UIC Vice Chairman,Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General SNCF International.

4n°126 - 15th December 2008

- one or more Directors (Non-

Europe) for the other UIC Re-

gions (ratification by the GA

also).

Following an intensive debate

involving the heads of the main

railway companies, the Gene-

ral Assembly approved una-

nimously the option

presented by the Executive

Board, thus giving Ms BéatriceDunogué-Gaffié a clear man-

date to finalise the draft of the

new UIC statutes. The Sta-

tutes Revision Group is tasked

with finalising its draft for the

modified statutes based on

the principles approved, as

well as with proposing the

amendments concerning the

introduction of an element of

universal suffrage. These pro-

posals are to be communica-

ted to the General Assembly

for approval in late March

2009.

In order for this strategic work

recasting the governance

rules to be finalised, the Ge-

neral Assembly decided una-

nimously to extend the

mandates of the Chairman,

Vice-Chairman, Chief Execu-

tive and Deputy Chief Execu-

tive, which were due to expire

at the end of December 2008,

until 31 March 2009. In addi-

tion, members unanimously

approved the continuation of

the mandate of the Provisional

Administrator. The members

of the Executive Board will

also be maintained with their

current mandates until the

above date.

The General Assembly then

handled the issue of the UIC

Chairmanship for 2009-2010.

5n°126 - 15th December 2008

Mr Yoshio Ishida, ViceChairman of East Japan

Railways (EJR), unanimously elected as

UIC Chairman for the2009-2010 term. He will

succeed Mr Jena on 1st April.

Mr Yoshio Ishida, Vice Chair-

man of East Japan Railways

(EJR) was unanimously elec-

ted as the successor to Mr

Jena as UIC Chairman from 1

April 2009. Applauded follo-

wing his election, Mr YoshioIshida has been involved in in-

ternational railway cooperation

for many years, in particular via

his participation in the UIC

World Executive Council and

subsequently the Executive

Board, and through his chair-

manship of the UIC Internatio-

nal Railway Research Board

(IRRB).

The General Assembly also ap-

proved:

- the 2007 accounts,

- the financial situation for the years

2008 (exceptional extension of the fi-

nancial year until 31 March 2009)

and 2009.

6n°126 - 15th December 2008

Regional activities / Europe

6th UIC Regional Assembly for Europe (RAE)

(Paris, 4 December 2008)

The UIC Regional Assembly for Eu-

rope (RAE) met on 4 December at the

association’s headquarters in Paris.

The meeting was chaired by RAE

Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn, Presi-

dent of the Board of DB and Vice-

Chairman Guillaume Pepy, SNCF

President. The meeting was attended

by a large number of Chairmen and

Chief Executives of the Assembly’s

member railways, among them Vladi-mir Yakunin (JSC Russian Railways

RZD) and Süleyman Karaman(TCDD). Mr Yoshio Ishida, Vice Chair-

man of East Japan railways (EJR)

was also invited and personally contri-

buted. The UIC team was represented

by Mrs Dunogué-Gaffié, Provisional

Administrator and Luc Aliadière, Chief Executive.

Under Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn’s lead, the

Regional Assembly ‘Europe’ was asked to agree

on a common European position on the issue of

the future UIC governance before coming to the

Executive Board and General Assembly mee-

tings on 5th December. Following a debate in-

volving the CEOs, the Regional Assembly

‘Europe’ adopted a clear and unanimous com-

mon position taking into account all parties’ views

in anticipation of the following day’s statutory

meetings. Mr Hartmut Mehdorn was mandated

to voice this position on the four governance prin-

ciples that had been proposed by the Executive

Board in Delhi on 15 November (on the basis of

the proposals of the Statutes working group chaired and mode-

rated by UIC Provisional Administrator Me Béatrice Dunogué-Gaffié,and consisting in representatives of all the “UIC regions”). The

Regional Assembly ‘Europe’ endorsed the Provisional Adminis-

trator’s mandate as appropriate, and reiterated the recommen-

dation that UIC had to concentrate on railway cooperation

activities and projects in order to produce all the results needed

or expected in the interest of the European members’ community.

In this respect, Regional Assembly Chairman Mr Mehdorn warmly

thanked the UIC Chief Executive Luc Aliadière for having suc-

cessfully maintained UIC’s operational dimension throughout the

difficulties of the recent period.

From left to right: Aad Veenman, CEO of NS, CER Chairman, Armand Toubol, SNCF, Guil-laume Pepy, President SNCF, Vice Chairman of ‘UIC Europe’ and UIC Vice Chairman, Hart-mut Mehdorn, President of DB, Chairman of UIC Regional Assembly ‘Europe’, Dr. JoachimFried, DB European Affairs, Mrs Béatrice Dunogué-Gaffié, UIC Provisional Administrator, LucAliadière, UIC Chief Executive.

Mr Yoshio Ishida, Vice Chairman East Japan Railways(EJR), was invited to participate at UIC Regional As-sembly ‘Europe’.

7n°126 - 15th December 2008

The Regional Assembly ‘Europe’ also unani-

mously decided to propose as the European

candidate for the mandate of UIC Chairman Mr

Yoshio Ishida, Vice-Chairman of East Japan

Railways (EJR), for his vision, acumen and ex-

perience in the international railway field. Visi-

bly moved, Mr Ishida proposed an additional

principle on managing solidarity between mem-

bers within UIC, which was very positively wel-

comed by Chairman Mehdorn, who noted: “thisis a signal in the right direction”.

The Regional Assembly ‘Europe’ also agreed to

extend the mandates of its Chairman and Vice-

Chairman until its next meeting, to be held in March 2009 prior to the General Assembly on 31 March.

Another part of the meeting was dedicated to the review of cooperation activities and projects. Following

a presentation by Oliver Sellnick, UIC Director ‘Railway Undertakings’ (Passenger and Freight), appro-

val and support were given for the creation of a company enabling monitoring of the management of the

freight wagons belonging to the 600 signatory companies to the GCU (General Contract of Use). This

company is to be set up jointly between ERFA, UIP and UIC and will the tool used by the GCU Trustee

who manages the contract. For his part, Gerard Dalton, UIC Infrastructure Director, presented the re-

ference model to implement the European Performance Regime (EPR) proposed by the Advisory Group.

The RAE approved this model and Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn called on all the railways to participate

in it. Finally, the Regional Assembly ‘Europe’ decided that in principle UIC would participate in the next

United Nations (UNFCCC) “Conference of the Parties” (COP 15), to be held in Copenhagen in 2009,

where the Kyoto Protocol on climate change prevention is due to be renegotiated.

Farewell for Aad Veenman,

CEO of Dutch Railways (NS)

Aad Veenman, CEO of NS, Dutch Railways, is to end his career

and retire at the end of this year.

Aad Veenman has been CER Chairman for four years, a role to

which he was elected following the departure of Giancarlo Ci-moli to Alitalia in May 2004. He was subsequently UIC Vice-

Chairman until the end of 2006, then Vice-Chairman of UIC

Europe from January 2007. He has occupied his various roles

within railway representative bodies with competence, authority,

presence and great acumen.

He will be replaced at NS by Bert Meerstadt and as CER

Chairman by Mauro Moretti, CEO of FS Group.

UIC, which presented Mr Veenman with a memento at its General

Assembly on 5 December, would like to thank Aad Veenman for his

commitment to the interests of the railway community, and

wishes him all the best for his future beyond NS.

Luc Aliadière, UIC Chief Executive, congra-tulates and warmly thanks Aad Veenman,CEO of NS and CER Chairman, former UICVice Chairman who will retire at the end ofthis year, for his leading role in the interna-tional cooperation of railways.

Mauro Moretti, CEO of FS Group, becomesthe new CER Chairman.

FS G

roup

A report on the UIC Regional Assembly for Asia (ARA), held in Paris, on 4 december, will be publi-

shed on the next issue of UIC e-News.

8n°126 - 15th December 2008

Infrastructure

UIC European Performance Regime (EPR) Project now prepares

for the Implementation Phase

UIC initiated the EPR (European Performance Regime) Project in 2004 with its Members to establish

a unique international Performance Regime with the intention of improving the railway performance,

and particularly punctuality, of international trains. The EPR is intended to provide a positive stimulus

to Infrastructure Managers (IMs) and Railway Undertakings (RUs) to improve their quality through a

bonus / malus scheme, relating to international trains. This PR can also be used to monitor national traf-

fic in order to avoid the deployment of two parallel PRs, if so decided by individual networks.

The feasibility of the bonus / malus approach was checked, and the technical requirements for EPR im-

plementation defined, during two series of test-runs: In 2007, 3 test-runs monitoring 1 587 freight and

1 185 passenger trains were carried out. In 2008, a second set of 7 test-runs including 974 freight and

820 passenger trains was conducted to consolidate the previous test results.

The UIC Regional Assembly for Europe, on the 4th of December 2008, approved the recommenda-

tion of the EPR Project Management team to adopt a unique commercial model, referred to as the

Reference Model, as the basis for future development work and final implementation. Each Company

has now been advised to commit the necessary human resources for the remaining development

work within different EPR Working Groups and to ensure the financial investments to install the nee-

ded prerequisites for the EPR implementation. The EPR Project expects to utilise the Europtirails

(EOPT) system, currently under the charge of Rail Net Europe (RNE), to centrally record and compute

the required EPR reports along the selected corridors.

The implementation prerequisites that need to be put in place before proceeding to the dry-runs (i.e.

an extended “as if” test period without money exchange) can be summarised as follows:

At national level

- IT connection between national systems and EOPT for UIC messages

- Adoption of the UIC delay codification according to UIC Leaflet 450-2

(this doesn’t prevent from more detailed national delay codification)

- National validation of delay causes (codes) between IMs and RUs

At international level

- Harmonised data provision to / from EOPT (timetables, train numbers, EOPT reports...)

- International validation of delays, especially for border delays

- A “wise-men” (not legal) dispute resolution system

- Contractual framework and clearing of EPR bonus / malus payments

Explanation of EPR calculation model

When the EPR Project was initiated, the following main principles were commonly agreed and since then

they have served as criteria for the EPR development work:

- Incentive for quality improvements,

- Fair and reliable,

- Simple, understandable and transparent,

- No excessive administrative or legal burden.

9n°126 - 15th December 2008

Furthermore, the UIC Project has worked on the basis that the EPR calculations will be applied for each

selected train run in a corridor based approach. The delay minutes for each train are monitored and

the causes for these delays are identified and recorded, according to the UIC Leaflet 450-2.

Consequently, the actors that have caused delays have to pay malus minutes and the actors that have

suffered from these delays or have recovered time (=caught up) are granted bonus minutes. The un-

derlying idea of the EPR is to provide a financial incentive / benchmark for quality improvements and

not a full monetary compensation for the disturbance caused by the delay.

Since 2004, four different calculation models have been introduced and analysed by the EPR Com-

mercial Working Group (CWG). In autumn 2008, the CWG made a recommendation to adopt the so-

called Reference Model, which was unanimously approved by the EPR Advisory Group on the 7th of

November in Frankfurt.

This Reference Model realises the initial objective to have a unique international / national perfor-

mance regime, allowing the RUs to run through several countries without any change of EPR rules.

This Reference Model is based on a corridor approach whereby the malus minutes are paid into a com-

mon “money box” to form a fund and from which the bonus minutes are distributed, according to each

actor’s respective poor / good behaviour in relation to the overall corridor performance.

The total malus payments equate to the total bonus receivables and thus the fund created on each jour-

ney is distributed between the actors (IMs and RUs) involved.

For more information please contact Erika Nissi: nissi@uic.asso.fr

The payments are illustrated by this simplified example schema including 3 IMs and 3 RUs.

10n°126 - 15th December 2008

Sustainable Development

The climate is right for rail” with UIC, CER and UITP

at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 14) in Poznan

Climate change has be-

come THE global issue,

and even the most scep-

tical seems to acknow-

ledge the need of acting

urgently to reducing the

human activities causing

the global warming. The

transportation sector is

one of the major produ-

cers of green house

emissions – responsible

for more than 25% (IEA

2008) of the total amount

of fossil fuel emissions.

While many other sectors

have been able to curb their production of emissions, the transportation sector is increasing its emis-

sions. In the short term railways can handle some increased demand for services but in the long run

it’s necessary with investments in infrastructure if our society should fully benefit from the sustainable

mobility the railways offer.

UIC, CER and UITP are present for the 6th time at the UN Climate

Change conference. For COP 14, in addition to a joint exhibition

UIC, CER, UITP have organized a ‘side’ event on transport in co-

operation with two transport research institutions, Transport Re-

search Laboratory (TRL) from UK and the Deutsche Gesellschaft

für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) from Germany. At a very

well visited event entitled “A low carbon transport under a differentregime” which besides the organisers involved a guest panel with

participants from the World Bank and the European Commission

a discussion was held on what could be done in order to reduce the

CO2 production from the transport sector.

Magrethe Sagevik, Sustainable Development Senior

Adviser of UIC sent a clear message that the railways

are part of the solution and that more importance

should be placed on the advantages of rail and public

transport in the development of sustainable transport

systems. She also presented the many ongoing ac-

tivities in the sector on energy efficiency, emissions

reduction etc. Matthew Ledbury, Environment Advi-

ser of CER pointed out that the including the aviation

sector in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is

only a first step. If the transport sector is to reduce its Magrethe Sagevik, Sustainable Development Senior Adviser of UIC.

Notes taken by a participant during the UIC' presentation (see www.ecopassenger.org and www.ecotransit.org).

11n°126 - 15th December 2008

News from UIC Members

Russia:

Russian Railways (RZD) to Buy Electric Trains in 2011-13 for Suburban Lines in

Southern Russia and 2014 Sochi Olympics

On 20 January 2009, Russian Railways (RZD) will hold Open Tender No.567 for a contract to design

and supply up to 54 electric trains for suburban passenger lines in southern Russia. They will also

serve the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. The tender is open to both Russian and foreign equipment manu-

facturers. The closing date for bids is 19 January 2009, and the trains are to be delivered in 2011-

2013.The electric trains must be designed to travel at speeds of up to 160 km/hour and operate on

emissions, other measures to address the climatic

impacts of all modes of transport will be needed such

as internalizing the external cost. The presentation

from Heather Allen, Senior Manager Sustainable De-

velopment, UITP, stressed that behaviour change can

help to fill the gap in the short and medium term be-

fore technological solutions for green transport is

there.

The rail and public transport organisations have pro-

moted the importance of transport in the climate

change combat discussions and the needed contri-

bution from rail and public transport in future sustai-

nable transport systems with the “Keep Kyoto on

Track”-campaign including official UNFCCC side

events since COP 9. This has given them the opportunity to build up a network among transport and climate

change experts and given the organisations a key role in bringing these experts together. For COP 14 the

audience in the official side event “A low carbon transport under a different regime” included several trans-

port and climate change experts who support in bringing the messages of rail and public forward in the

UNFCCC discussions.

COP 15 in 2009 will be hosted by Copenhagen. Here the successor of the Kyoto Protocol shall be

agreed upon. The railway sector is currently organising a promotional campaign under the name of

Train to Copenhagen which among other things will aim at facilitating sustainable transportation for the

many official delegates.

For more information please contact Margrethe Sagevik, Senior Sustainable Development Advisor:sagevik@uic.asso.fr

12n°126 - 15th December 2008

both AC and DC power supply. They must have a service life of 40 years or 7 million km from date of

delivery. It is planned that each train will have a capacity of up to 1000 passengers and they will be des-

igned for a high standard of passenger comfort. Particular attention will be given to the needs of disa-

bled passengers, for whom the carriages will be fitted with special doors, seats and toilets. Between 2008

and 2030, RZD plans to purchase 24,450 new motor railcars as part of Russia’s rail transport develop-

ment strategy to 2030.

Vietnam:

13 strategic projects in the transport sector

Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng has just ratified the stra-

tegy of development of rail transport by 2020 and Vision

2050, in which the railway is regarded as an important com-

munication infrastructure and a priority for years to come. On

the basis of modernity, speed and durability.

In the future, the State will intensify its investment in the high

speed train North-South (350km per hour) and railway links

between Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong and Hanoi-Dong Dang,

that will facilitate trade between Vietnam and China. Urban

railways in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will also benefit from

investments.

China:

The high-speed line Beijing-Shanghai, the longest in the world, is nearing completion

The Chinese Ministry of Railways reported last week that the

longest high-speed railway line in the world, linking the capi-

tal to Shanghai, was almost complete.

91% of the line (i.e 1 203 km of rail) are completed. Major re-

maining works are the bridges spanning the Yangtze and

Huaihe rivers and the main terminal in Shanghai. More than

110 000 workers are currently working on the project.

The journey between Beijing and Shanghai, which is cur-

rently 11 hours will be reduced to just five hours.

The Chinese Ministry of Railways said it planned to have 120 000 km of railway lines in operation by

2020, with 16 000 km devoted solely for passenger services.

At the end of the year, China will have more than 79 000 km of railway lines. To meet the 2020 target,

about 5 billion yuan (732 billion dollars) are needed, said the Chinese Ministry of Railways.

CR

13n°126 - 15th December 2008

December

• 15-16 December 2008: SET 15 meeting (Lille)• 16 December 2008: GSM-R European Test Lab #4 (Paris)• 16-17 December 2008: PFS - Steering Committee Meeting (Lisboa)• 17 December 2008: SEU State-of-the-Art Workshop (Paris)• 18 December 2008: GRIDES dissemination workshop (Rome)

UIC e-news Editor: Marie Plaud

Lay-out: Daniel Tessèdre

Communications Department, 15th December 2008

Thank you for your comments and suggestions.For any additional e-mail address in your Railway please contact plaud@uic.asso.fr

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

Next meetings scheduled