An important approach to promoting sustainable and inclusive development for the Asia-Pacific region is to link transport infrastructure – thereby allowing countries to easily move goods by rail or road – and create much-needed social and economic opportunities. The United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) convened the second session of the Committee on Transport from 1 to 3 November at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok to focus on this issue.

The committee reviewed the progress of the Asian Highway and the Trans-Asian Railway Network projects and addressed the issues about integrating the networks, enhancing capacity, improving efficiency and supporting regional integration. On the occasion the committee also considered the possibility of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Dry Ports along the Asian Highway and Trans-Asian Railway Network, as proposed by the Regional Expert Group.

The Regional Expert Group Meeting on Dry Ports along the Asian Highway and Trans-Asian Railway Networks was also convened in parallel to the session. Experts from the region discussed the institutional and regulatory, as well as the technical and operational issues related to the development of dry ports. The committee will particularly focus on the development of an intergovernmental agreement on dry ports, the consideration of transport issues including those of concern to archipelagic and island developing countries, as well as the strengthening of inter-subregional cooperation.

Over 100 participants representing 32 governments and 11 organisations participated in the session. UIC was represented by Mukul Saran Mathur, Head of UIC Asia Regional Office. The Committee on Transport session was inaugurated by Mr. Supoth Sublom, Permanent Secretary of Transport, representing H.E. Mr. Sophon Zaram, Thailand’s Minister of Transport. UIC stressed the importance of integrating the regional rail network and the need to develop inland container terminals. Contributions were also made for the development of the intergovernmental agreement on dry ports.

Jean-Pierre Loubinoux was invited today (16 November) to participate in activities themed around transport development as part of work carried out by the OECD, during which he was able to highlight the development of major freight corridors between Europe and Asia on the East-West and North-South axes. The work is based on a logical need for modal complementarity between long and heavy trains on the major axes, players across logistics platforms and road transport.

He also highlighted the work that UIC has carried out with UNECE on the main Europe-Asia corridors as well as the work to standardise legal and commercial documents currently being led in partnership with CIT and OTIF.

The 2010 training course of the International Railway Training Center for UIC Asia (IRaTCA) and the third Asian Network of Training Centers (ANTC) seminar took place from 7 to 13 November 2010 in Uilwang and Suwon, on the outskirts of Seoul in Korea. Members from Vietnam, India, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, naturally Korea, but also Algeria stated their interest in this session, this year dealing with the subject of “Green Growth”; a topic which was strongly backed by our Korean colleagues in the context of their development programme which should enable the region to become one of the five most developed in the world by 2025.

There were around twenty participants including speakers from Japan and France and also participants from Uzbekistan and Nepal and representatives from operators and governmental authorities, all discussing different rail projects in their countries and the recognition of environmental sustainability matters. Inaugurated by Huh Joon-Young, CEO of Korail and Chairman of UIC Asia, the highly detailed presentations enabled experiences to truly be shared between countries which already have high speed services, those whose needs are developing rapidly and those whose new projects form part of a phase of international infrastructure developments. This opportunity was taken to remind participants that railways were responding to increasing mobility needs in our societies whilst respecting criteria for harmonious social and economic progress. Furthermore the large professional, financial and intergovernmental institutions increasingly have a fundamental role to play in a century in which railway infrastructure is crossing ever more borders. At the same time educational networking is to be expanded by working with the ENRTC, the European equivalent of ANTC.

This event clearly illustrates UIC’s current priorities bringing together the growing significance of the regions, recognition of environmental concerns and training needs. The next meeting has already been organised for 2011 in Ulan Bator where the Mongolian railway authorities will organise the fourth training session, open to all UIC Asia members.

The International Railway Training Center for UIC Asia (IRaTCA) is an initiative which was created in 2007 by the Asia region to organise general training sessions and promote educational benchmarking between members. Chaired by KORAIL, vice-chaired by Vietnam Railways and financed by members of UIC Asia, in Beijing in December 2010 it is expected to be established as a permanent activity of the region.

The 2010 FIATA (Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) World Congress was held from 4 to 8 October 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. The annual international event brings together the freight forwarding industry and transport players from across the world.

The congress programme and concurrent exhibition attracted more than 800 participants from 73 countries. The participants were welcomed at the opening ceremony by Mr Alongkorn Ponlaboot, Thailand’s Deputy Minister of Commerce, and FIATA Chairman Jean Claude Delen.

Mukul Saran Mathur, Head of UIC Asia Regional Office (New Delhi), was invited on behalf of UIC to give a presentation on the “Enhancement of Railway transportation in Asia” at the World Congress’ MultiModal Transport Meeting. The presentation detailed the region’s current growth situation and stressed the need in Asia to strengthen railway infrastructure, develop container handling facilities and government policies favouring containerisation, create institutional mechanisms to facilitate containerisation, and bring private investments to the rail sector.

The presentation was well received at the World Congress which further strengthened ties between UIC and FIATA for future cooperation.

AGORA (advanced terminal management as a proactive contribution to intermodal value chain) is a “common learning action” project of the European Commission Marco Polo Programme. UIC, represented by its Combined Transport Group, is one of the partners in the project which aims to improve the management capabilities of intermodal operators across Europe and increase capacity through a set of innovative and smart operational measures.

The project, started in January 2009, held its final conference last week in Frankfurt, where a “Good Practice Manual on efficient terminal management” and the project website (two of the key deliverables) were presented.

Ms Denise Kwantes, from EACI (Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation) opened the conference by recalling the fundamentals of the Marco Polo Programme. Dr Groner-Weber from the German Ministry of Transport highlighted the need and the will of the German Ministry to invest in intermodality. Sandra Géhénot presented the result of UIC’s “2010 Report on Combined Transport”, indicating that intermodal rail road transport carried approximately 154.5 million tonnes of goods in 2009 and had a clear growth perspective, with two digit growth rates forecasted for the next two years. The full report will be available on the UIC website from December. The Agora partners then gave a presentation on how they are preparing themselves by applying good practice criteria to the increase of capacity and efficiency.

The conference then concluded with the announcement that the AGORA partners were committed to continuing their collaboration and a terminal interest group was formed.

All conference documents are available on the AGORA website www.intermodal-terminals.eu

High speed Allegro rail services between Helsinki and St Petersburg are to start on 12 December, cutting travel time between the two cities to a mere 3 hours 30 minutes. Operating at speeds of up to 220 km/hr, the Allegro will hold 344 passengers in first and second class. To make the journey more comfortable, it will have a restaurant car with self-service facility and a conference compartment designed for corporate meetings.

Against the backdrop of the African Nations Cup (ANC) that Gabon will jointly organise with Equatorial Guinea in 2012, the Trans-Gabon railway operator (SETRAG) is intending to strengthen its locomotive fleet.

André Alliguie, head of the company’s rolling stock department, announced that SETRAG is to procure six new locomotives in 2011 to increase its passenger transport capacity between Libreville and Franceville, the main city in the south-eastern province of Haut-Ogooué, the second location chosen to host the ANC matches in 2012.

An investment of four billion CFA francs will also be made to purchase a passenger trainset. These procurements are to follow the computerisation of the ticketing system to handle onboard clientele and reduce waiting time.