This three-day event, which is a significant event in the international rail freight calendar, will be held from 17 – 19 June in Tangier under the high patronage of the Moroccan Authorities.

The conference, which will bring together top executives and decision-makers, rail and logistics professionals, customers, influential politicians and regulators, and institutions from the entire world, will propose presentations and debates around the main theme: “Rail Freight – what role does it play in the development of global logistics?”

The 2nd edition of the Global Rail Freight Conference was organised by Russian Railways and UIC from 5 – 7 July 2010 in Saint-Petersburg and was a huge success with more than 300 participants from 40 countries.

Come and join the discussions which will be moderated by professional journalists. We look forward to meeting you during the conference.

Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General UIC

Mohamed Rabie Khlie, Director-General ONCF, Chairman UIC Africa Region

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18 October (09.00 – 18.30)

Grand Opening

• Mr Aziz Rabbah, Moroccan Transport Minister
• Mr Abdelkader Amara, Moroccan Minister for Commerce and Technology
• Mr Mohamed Rabie Khlie, Director-General ONCF
• Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General UIC
• Mr Marc Juhel, World Bank
• Mr Alexander Saltanov, Vice-President Russian Railways
• Mr Siim Kallas, EU Commission Vice-President Responsible for Transport (tbc)

High Level Session on Future Prospects for the Mediterranean

This session will be organised as a debate between high-level representatives from: IPMED, ONCF, Port of Tangier, Renault and the European Investment Bank.

International Corridors: What new perspectives are there for worldwide logistics services?

Some of your key speakers will include Senior Representatives from Tunisian Railways, the United Nations as well as:

• Mr Schmidt, Head of ÖBB Produktion
• Mr Genestier, Senior Vice-President SNCF Geodis
• Mr Werner, Member of the Board of DB Schenker Rail

Intermodality-Multimodality: the answer to optimising flow management

This round table session will welcome high-level representatives from STVA, CFL MM, Port of Barcelona, CMA CGM, Marsa Maroc etc.

19 October (09.00-12.00)

What is the role for technology and innovation in global logistics?

In this session, representatives from Alstom, BIC, Port of Shanghai and other key manufacturers will debate subjects such as productivity improvements, security, data exchange, seamless operation etc. through the presentation of best practices and concrete business cases.

Conclusions and Perspectives

14.30 Technical Visit of the Port of Tangier

Conference Overview

The Conference will take place from 17 – 19 October in Tangier and will be hosted at the Mövenpick Hotel and Resort.

Conference languages are: French, English and Arabic.

Social Event/Networking

17 October – 19.00: Welcome Cocktail Drink offered by BIC 18 October – 20.00: Gala Dinner

Any Questions?

If you have any questions on the Global Rail Freight Conference, please contact:

Sandra Géhénot, Project Manager UIC, Paris: gehenot@uic.org

and

Mohammed Oubrahim, Project Manager ONCF, Rabat: oubrahim@oncf.ma

PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE

http://grfc.uic.org

Conference Fees

Registration Fees

• Early bookings, until 2 July: 750€
• Standard participation fee: 850€
• Fee for UIC members: 750€

Fee includes:

• Entry to the conference
• Conference proceedings
• Lunches and coffee breaks
• Cocktail reception on 17 October
• Gala dinner on 18 October
• Technical Visit to Tangier Med on 19 October
• Transfer between airport and conference venue

Payments can be made by credit card or bank transfer

The Venue

The Global Rail freight Conference will take place at the Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts in Tangier. It is the perfect location for business and leisure. Situated on the shores of the Mediterranean, this hotel overlooks the beautiful bay of Tangier. Address: Route de Malabata, Baie de Tanger, 9000 Tanger, Morocco

The 3rd International Rail GIS Summit was organised by Esri (sponsored by Nice, Nokia and Trimble) and hosted by UIC from 13 – 14 June 2012. This event brought together 70 participants from 14 countries to share experience and learn about different initiatives to deploy GIS within the railways. GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology provides the possibility to interconnect different databases and workflows via location/positioning with geo coordinates.

In his opening address Mr Hans Günther Kersten, Director of the Rail System Department since 1 June 2012, expressed his interest in this annual event to facilitate the exchange of experience and intentions of GIS use within the railways. Knowing that GIS-related capabilities can be used in different domains such as emergency planning, ETCS signalling, asset management and vegetation control, he hoped UIC could strengthen the international GIS cooperation among the railways and the railway representation in EU initiatives such as the Inspire Directive. One of the most remarkable presentations was given on RZD’s efforts in Russia to create a spatial data digital model of the 85,000 track-km and infrastructure facilities with a High Accurate Coordinate System using various complementary data capture technologies. In the case of new constructions, the spatial data will be created and stored from the pre-design phase which is rather innovative within the railways. This digital railway model will be used to measure the deflections from standards and to optimise the RZD track maintenance.

Network Rail presented their Rail Infrastructure Network Model and the recently defined Asset Information Strategy providing a comprehensive illustration of the global vision and the strategy delivery roadmap. Two presentations were given on the underground cable management in Poland and the Netherlands, and ProRail gave an update of their recent achievements to derive schematic representations from geographical data. RFF presented an exploratory comparison of different data acquisition methods for controlling vegetation alongside the rail network, and described new ideas on how to use GIS for train running operations.

This 3rd Rail GIS Summit, like the two previous editions, was characterised by lively discussions and intensive networking. The aforementioned and many other presentations are available on request at nissi@uic.org.

A more detailed article on this event is available in Eurospatial Communications by Jeff Thurston:

http://www.3dvisworld.com/events/event-coverage/1489-event-coverage-international-railways-on-track-with-gis.html

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Operation Lifesaver inc. U.S.A., Isabelle Fonverne, UIC Projects Coordinator for Safety and Interoperability, along with other speakers, was invited by Helen Sramek, President of OL inc. (one of the main partners in ILCAD), to give an overview of the activities carried out during ILCAD 2012 on 7 June by the 42 partner countries around the world.

Operation Lifesaver inc. USA started in 1972 as a not-for-profit organisation when the average number of collisions at US highway-rail grade crossings had risen above 12,000 incidents annually. Since then the number of collisions has been reduced by 84%. Operation Lifesaver’s mission is to end collisions, deaths and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on rail property through a nationwide network of volunteers who work to educate people about rail safety.

Their national office in Alexandria, VA, supports state programs, developing videos, educational brochures, instructional information and other materials for audiences of all ages. The state coordinators are located in all 50 states.

The workshop audience was mainly composed of OL USA Coordinators from the 50 states, specialists in the three E’s (Education, Engineering, Enforcement), communications managers, social media experts, police forces, railway staff members, OL inc. partners (Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, AAR, Amtrak, BNSF Railway, Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, CSX, Genesse & Wyoming Inc., Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, Railway Supply Institute and Union Pacific Railroad) plus an international panel of speakers moderated by Dan Di Tota (Chairman of OL Canada).

Helen Sramek opened the workshop: “Operation Lifesaver USA was pleased to join its partner countries around the world for the 2012 observance of International Level Crossing Awareness Day. Educating the public to remain safe at the crossing or on and around tracks is a mission that unites us all,” noted H. Sramek. “As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of OL, we are pleased to report an 84% decline in vehicle-train collisions. We will not be satisfied until we push that number to zero,” H. Sramek concluded.

Here are some links to the activities carried out by OL inc. on 7 June:

http://oli.org/news/view/operation-lifesaver-cites-safety-gains-continued-need-for-education-on-cros

Download PDF

The international panel moderated by Dan Di Tota (National Director of OL Canada) started with his own presentation: “Operation Lifesaver Canada recently held its 10th annual Public-Rail Safety Week (PRSW) across Canada with a focus on disseminating rail safety best practices and on empowering Canadians to take personal responsibility for their safety on or near rail property. OL efforts over the past 31 years have helped reduce the number of crossing collisions (where a train and motor vehicle collide) in Canada from over 800 annually to 169 in 2011, a 79% decline. OL Canada supported ILCAD in Canada publishing the press release in English and French, the ILCAD videos on their website and in the whole country.”

For more information: http://www.operationlifesaver.ca or http://www.operationgareautrain.ca, see also OL CANADA’s posters.

Tamo Vahemets, Chairman of the Management Board of NPO Operation Lifesaver Estonia, presented his 2012 national campaign “Know your opponent” and OLE’s indefectible support to ILCAD. Tamo was one the speakers in the ILCAD press conference at RFF on 7 June 2012.

”The number of railway accidents taking place in Estonia is among the highest in Europe. This saddens us very much”, said Tamo Vahemets, Chairman of the Management Board of NPO Operation Lifesaver Estonia. “Last year 28 train collisions with other vehicles occurred which caused nine fatalities. Unfortunately we can say that all of these incidents could have been prevented if people paid more attention and understood better the stronger position of railway vehicles – this is exactly what this year’s campaign is focusing on.”

Poster of OLE’s 2012 campaign: http://ole.ee/2012/04/railway-safety-campaign-know-your-opponent-begins/#!prettyPhoto/1/

Video of OL Estonia’s campaign 2012: http://youtu.be/dX1-2L-XL0I

Aidan Nelson (Community Safety Partnerships Ltd, U.K.) gave an overview of level crossing safety in the UK and more precisely of the five E’s which stand for Enabling, Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Evaluation. He gave some figures relating to accidents and fatalities, making comparisons between the UK, Canada and the USA. He presented the example of Network Rail education campaign “Don’t run the risk” (see poster), RSSB research programme, enforcement measures in conjunction with BTP (British Transport Police), communication with local authorities, level crossing users and the media… for further information please contact: aidannelson@comsafetypartners.com or visit www.lxinfo.org

And finally Isabelle Fonverne gave an overview of the activities carried out worldwide on ILCAD day on 7 June : http://www.ilcad.org/Participants-2012.html

The entry into service on 17 June of the Class 730 hybrid will cut journey times between Madrid and Galicia by over 30 minutes and enable the Madrid-Alicante route to be completed in less than two hours. This new train, which replaces the current Talgo, will spread the benefits of high speed to non-electrified track sections. At the end of June Spain’s Minister for Public Works Ana Pastor gave a briefing on this new service.

Under a €78m project, 15 Talgo/Bombardier Class 130 trainsets are being converted to the Class 730. It is one of the most versatile trains in the world, for it incorporates both diesel and electric engines (for electrified and non-electrified track), shifting rolling system (for 1668 mm gauge and 1435 mm gauge), dual voltage (for two different overhead line voltages) and signalling systems for circulation on all existing lines in Spain.

The Class 730 has a top speed of 200 km/h on 1668 mm gauge and 250 km/h on 1435 mm gauge high speed infrastructure.

(Source: ADIF)