• Political decision-makers, dignitaries and high-level representatives from the international rail community attended this successful 8th edition: 1,000 participants from all over the world including Ministers, Ambassadors, CEOs and Directors from railway companies, experts and students from 37 countries

• UIC HIGHSPEED 2012 was organised around two major round tables and parallel sessions dedicated to topics directly connected with high speed rail development

• The 9th UIC World Congress on High Speed Rail is to be held in June 2015 in Japan

The 8th UIC World Congress on High Speed Rail, jointly organised by UIC and the American Association of Public Transportation (APTA), was held from 11 – 13 July in Philadelphia, PA, USA. The theme of this 8th edition, bringing together three Ministers, 32 CEOs and Directors from railway companies worldwide, international organisations such as the World Bank, 1,000 congress delegates from 37 countries, 2,700 visitors, 190 speakers participating in the opening session, two round tables and 25 parallel sessions including three special sessions for high speed corridors around the world, 80 exhibitors from 12 countries and 13 participants in the students’ programme, was:

“High speed rail: connecting people, building sustainable prosperity”

The high attendance, around 1,000 high speed rail professionals in total, from all continents, has demonstrated among others the influence of high speed rail experts on decision-makers.

During the opening session, UIC Director-General Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux said: “The congress is a unique platform. All over the world, high speed rail means economic development, competitiveness and growth; less congestion; less dependence on foreign energy resources; and fewer casualties on the roads. Conference participants over the next three days will see the value and benefits of high speed rail and practical ways to implement it.”

He insisted on the historic moment for high speed rail, following the California vote held on 6 July 2012, just before the opening of the 8th World Congress on High Speed Rail held for the first time in North America: “I truly hope this conference will become a milestone in the history of high speed rail.” He added: “The decision made on 6 July was symbolic in its timing [of the 8th World Congress on High Speed Rail convening in Philadelphia] – so, are we [UIC] a lucky charm?” Jean-Pierre Loubinoux added that the “Washington Day” organised the day before the opening of the Congress presented a “unique opportunity to have all prominent actors in high speed rail gathered all in one row [at the meeting].”

Michael Melaniphy, President and CEO of APTA, said that the United States “must remain economically competitive and high speed rail is an economically viable way to achieve it. The US continues to make incremental progress but much remains to be done.”

UIC Chairman Yoshio Ishida underlined the many benefits of high speed rail, saying: “In all the countries where high speed rail is operating today, much energy is saved and it provides convenience to those who live along these lines.”

Gary C. Thomas, APTA Chairman said: “There was criticism of President Lincoln when he said the United States needed a transcontinental railroad.” “Critics called the proposed New York/New Jersey tunnel financially and technologically impossible to build.” “Today, these ventures stand as examples of America’s success, showing how transportation projects make our daily life possible and keep our economy moving.” “I predict the very same will happen with high speed rail.” Gary C. Thomas cited a recent APTA survey that showed that 62% of Americans likely to use high speed rail, with more than half of them very likely. The figure soars to 74% for US residents age 18-24.

Ray LaHood, US Secretary of Transportation, underlined the extraordinary friendship of all the participants and players of the development of high speed rail ready to share their own expertise in a very positive atmosphere.

Following the address of the keynote speakers, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux gave the floor to several speakers in order to make a “worldwide tour” of high speed rail.

Concerning Japan, Osamu Yoshida, Senior Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, said he “feels a sense of destiny arising from the conference that is being held in the United States.” He added he was looking forward, over the course of the congress, to learning from his fellow attendees and exchanging information.

Concerning Chinese developments, Huawu He, Chief Engineer and Chinese Minister of Railways, said that “in the next 10 years, China will be focusing on technology and innovation. The Chinese government knows the importance of developing railways.”

As far as Turkey is concerned, Süleyman Karaman, President of Turkish Railways (TCDD), mentioned that the Turkish government has invested $15 billion in the development of high speed rail since 2003.

As for Russia’s developments in high speed rail, Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways (RZD), cited the need for partnerships, saying it is critical to collaborate with colleagues who already have experience in this field. He said: “More than money or technology, the barrier to implementing high speed rail in America is a problem of mentality.” He added: “Why spend money on rail when so many other travel options are available.” “A possible answer to that is that it is not just a means of transportation, it’s also a quality of life.” He continued: “For us in Russia, the term “mobility” is not abstract. To fund high-speed rail was a Russian decision. What will the American decision be? It depends on you. Because, when you start a project, you need above all else a political vision and a political will.”

Concerning Italy, Mauro Moretti, CEO of Italian Railways (FS), Vice-Chairman of UIC and Chairman of CER, predicted that European high speed rail ridership would triple by 2030 and then underlined the imperative need for public-private partnerships (PPP) for success.

Marcel Verslype, Executive Director of the European Railway Agency, underlined the competitive aspect of high speed rail, saying that one of its main characteristics in Europe is that it is open and transparent and favours competition.

From a Belgian point of view, Marc Descheemaecker, CEO of Belgium Railways (SNCB), underlined that “mobility is everything.” “Brussels is home to many international organisations and it needs to stay competitive or these companies will leave. The nation’s many ports necessitate good mobility, which high speed rail has helped to achieve.” He added: “With high speed rail...it’s possible to have breakfast in Paris, lunch in Amsterdam and dinner in London.”

As far as France is concerned, Guillaume Pepy, President of French Railways (SNCF), cited three major achievements in the 30 years of high speed rail operations in France: world speed record broken in 2007; safety – serving more than two billion passengers without a single casualty in France” – and capacity. He added “France has only one third of the European high speed rail network, yet has captured half of the European market.” He concluded by adding that high speed rail should not focus just on “going from Station 1 to Station 2, but instead must become a sustainable alternative to car travel.”

Jean-Pierre Loubinoux ended the opening session by concluding this tour of high speed testimony and experience by saying “Where there’s a will, there’s a (rail)way.” This sentence, which stands for a perfect catch-balloon, could sum up the spirit of this 8th World Congress on High speed Rail.

Messages delivered during the UIC World Congress

Many American politicians consider that high speed rail is the legacy they should leave to the next generations as they now benefit from the heritage of the interstate highway network.

During the opening session US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said: “It’s historical time to be here in the USA. It’s an exciting moment to spotlight high speed rail. It’s happening right now (it’s not a dream), all over the world and it has been for decades.” He added “America has always been a nation of dreamers and builders. “What we are doing is what other generations have done for us.” He continued “High speed rail is not a pipe dream... it has come to America. The train has left the station.”

High speed rail is no longer a new-born system but a mature one having already transported twice the number of the earth’s dwellers without injuring anybody.

Guillaume Pepy, President of French Railways (SNCF), reminded participants that even in countries where high speed rail is advanced, it’s necessary to re-invent the high speed service. As far as he’s concerned he underlined three questions that are worth answering about high speed rail: the investments (how can we build the future high speed networks?), the competition (need to welcome other competitors or players in the market) and the customers’ needs and services (progress through more digital services, intermodal facilities and seamless transport).

Most of the Congress participants think that the current economical and financial crisis will slow down the development of the high speed network worldwide.

Today’s stringency affects the funding of high speed projects. Nevertheless, the tour around the world made during the opening ceremony has highlighted many ongoing projects both in countries where high speed rail is long established (such as Japan, France,...) or just starting (such as Morocco, Saudi Arabia, ...). In addition, just before the Congress the Californian Senate gave the green light for the financing of the first stage of a high speed line. This may spark a rapid blooming of HSR in the United States. Michael Melaniphy, APTA CEO and President cited the recent breakthrough in California, where the State Senate passed a budget measure in favour of high speed rail to reaffirm its commitment to the technology. “This vote will contribute to a balanced transportation system, and we are thrilled it all came together right before you arrived for this Congress.” He continued: “Your presence here in the United States – you, who are the world experts – will help us take our message and make it understood by those in Washington.”

During the first round table organised during the Congress, titled “How to deliver a High Speed Rail project in today’s economic context?” and moderated by UIC Director-General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, several speakers underlined the need to educate the stakeholders of the high speed rail systems on sustainable benefits that can exist, not only from a “green” point of view but also in terms of economics. They also mentioned the importance of fighting to reduce costs and delimitate risks of public-private partnerships (PPP).

The second round table – moderated by APTA CEO and President Michael Melaniphy – targeting the future role of high speed in the transport market, has clearly demonstrated that all means of transport are going through a particularly innovative period.

It looks like we are at the eve of a revolution where two trends seem irreversible. Firstly people care less for car ownership. As the border between private and public transport is blurring, seamless door-to-door trips including a rail segment become more attractive. Secondly Internet and GPS are invading all the components of the transport system and information has a pervasive influence on the market shares and on the competition between and within transport modes.

The 8th UIC World Congress ended with a closing session animated by Jean-Pierre Loubinoux and a special testimony given by Polly Trottenberg, US DoT Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy. The United States is “still struggling” to determine how to fund all its transportation needs, she said. “In a fiscal environment where there are many, many investments that you could be making where the benefits are going to exceed the costs, but your resources are limited, you can’t do them all, so you have to make choices. And as a country right now, just as in Europe, we’re grappling with what those choices are… There is definitely some real difficult debate happening about where we should invest our scarce federal dollars,” she said. “Transportation in the US has traditionally been a very, very bipartisan issue, and I think it’s something that we all really want to keep bipartisan,” she said. “These are important national investments, they’re going to last way beyond any given presidency or congress…so it’s important that you have real national consensus.” With an end to relatively effortless funding, however, it is no surprise that transportation has become part of the broader debate on the size and role of the government”, she added.

In response to a question from Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director-General, regarding the absence of passenger rail in particular from the MAP-21 legislation (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st century) Polly Trottenberg acknowledged the gap: “There are some things in the bill we wish we’d done better… One of the things we wished is that there had been a rail title and a clear vision on rail.”

All the presentations are available (for speakers only with username and password) at:

http://www.uic-highspeed2012.com/

9th UIC HIGHSPEED to be held in 2015 in Japan

Jean-Pierre Loubinoux announced that the 9th edition of UIC HIGHSPEED will take place in June 2015 in Japan, where high speed rail was born with the first Shinkansen.

High Speed Rail Facts and Figures

Since the last UIC Congress on High Speed Rail held in Beijing in December 2010:

• 3,577 km of high speed railway lines have entered service making a total of 17,547 km

• 5,806 km under construction and 9,673 planned will be added to this number in the coming years

• 15 billion passengers have travelled on high-speed rail – twice the world’s population

8th UIC World Congress on High Speed Rail - Key Figures

• 3 Ministers
• 32 CEOs and Directors from railway companies
• 1,000 congress delegates from 37 countries
• 2,700 visitors
• 2 round tables and 25 parallel sessions, including 3 special sessions for high speed corridors around the world
• 190 speakers: participants in opening session, round tables and parallel sessions
• 80 exhibitors from 12 countries, 2,300 sq m of exhibition
• 13 participants in the students’ programme
• Train exhibition at 30th Street Station, Philadelphia
• 3 technical visits

Special thanks

Special thanks is given to the teams which were involved in the Organisation and Scientific Committees.

For UIC:

• Michel Leboeuf
• Iñaki Barron (and Peter Gertler, from HNTB, for composing the Scientific Committee together with Michel Leboeuf and Iñaki Barron)
• Hervé Aubert
• Naoto Yanase
• Barbara Mouchel
• Paul Véron and all the Communications team

For American UIC members:

• Amtrak (particularly Christine Suchy)
• AAR
• FRA
• VIA Rail Canada (particularly Marc Laliberté)

For APTA:

• Michael Melaniphy, President and CEO, for his personal commitment and his great friendship
• Petra Mollet, Vice-President of Strategy
• KellyAnne Gallagher and Kathy Waters, in charge of the general organisation of the Congress
• Lenay Gore, in charge of the logistical aspects of the UIC statutory meetings and of the Congress
• Joni Zielinski-Carlton and Julia Walkers, for the organisation of the “Washington Day”
• Jack Gonzales, in charge of press relations
• and all the APTA staff involved in this Congress preparation

Special thanks also to Freeman, the US company which helped UIC to make these meetings and the Congress technically possible.

SECRET is a research project selected by the European Commission as part of the 4th transport call for proposals under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development.

SECRET addresses the protection of railway infrastructure against Electromagnetic (EM) attacks. Railway infrastructure is an attractive target for EM attacks because of its familiarity and ease of access, with extended economic and security consequences. Today, the European rail network is evolving to harmonise the management system. This is reflected by new integrated technologies, adequate procedures and centralisation of command centres. The new technologies facilitate the implementation of a harmonised system and improve the network competitiveness.

However, they are also highly vulnerable to EM attacks. Railway actors fear this growing EM vulnerability and have no knowledge on the extent and severity of consequences. SECRET will develop innovative solutions to reinforce the infrastructure and to prevent the European railway from the EM vulnerability resulting from the harmonisation process. This requires development of technologies in compliance with ERTMS and production of technical recommendations improving the European standardisation and the railway infrastructure resiliency. The work plan of the project extends over 36 months and is structured in five work packages in charge of the technical work.

The main objectives are to:

• identify the vulnerability points at different levels (from the electronic to the systemic vision)
• identify EM attack scenarios and risk assessment (service degradation, potential accidents, economic impacts…)
• identify public equipment which can be used to generate EM attacks
• develop protection rules to strengthen the infrastructure (at electronic, architecture and systemic levels)
• develop EM attack detection devices and processes
• develop resilient architecture able to adequately react in case of EM attack detection
• extract recommendations to ensure resiliency and contribute to standards

The project is coordinated by ERT (European Research Transport) in France and the consortium is composed of 10 members: research centres (IFSTTAR, Fraunhofer Institute IAIS, Polytechnic University of Turin, University of Liege – Montefiore Institute, University of the Basque Country, ZANASI Alessandro Srl), industries (Alstom Transport S.A., Trialog) and railway representatives (SNCF, UIC).

Given its wide network and experience, the UIC Security Division will have a main role in the dissemination of the results of the project.

The project will officially start on 1 August 2012 and the kick-off meeting will be held at the beginning of September 2012.

Rail transport faces huge present and future challenges for which innovation and step changes are necessary. As UIC’s overall mission is to promote the increased use of rail transport at world level and to help members make rail transport more attractive, effective, sustainable and economically viable, the last two General Assemblies have given their strong support to the ambitious programme of the International Railway Research Board (IRRB), as well as its initiative to set up the UIC Innovation Awards.

Two weeks left to apply!

Applicants are requested to submit their application by using the online standard form which can be found on the official webpage: http://www.railway-research.org/awards/and/or by email to the IRRB secretariat, schut@uic.org no later than 3 August 2012.

The official ceremony for the 1st UIC Innovation Awards will be held on the occasion of the UIC General Assembly on 11 December 2012 in Paris, during which the 90th anniversary of UIC (1922-2012) will also be celebrated.

Please forward this information to your colleagues in your organisation who are involved in research and innovation as well as to rail research institutes and/or academia with which your company might be cooperating in order to promote the UIC Innovation Awards.

The second week of October will see four separate events, all with safety as their theme, held in London. UIC is participating in three of them and is a major sponsor of the two events listed below.

The following events, hosted by RSSB, Network Rail and ORR, will take place from 8 – 10 October 2012 in London, followed by technical excursions on the 11/12:

• 12th Global Level Crossing and Trespass Symposium (GLX) “Working together to improve safety and performance at level crossings” : www.levelcrossing2012.org
• 22nd International Railway Safety Conference (IRSC) “Leadership, culture, behaviours and the integration of human factors into management systems”: www.irsc2012.org

The registration for participation in both conferences, which are not run commercially, but to break even, is open at the links above.

On the following day, 11 October, the UIC Safety Platform Plenary will take place in London and the ORR is hosting an ‘international workers day’ event.

The hosts and sponsors of each of these events extend a warm welcome to anyone who has an interest in or who can contribute to improving railway safety to join them in London in October!

The first UIC training session to be organised in the frame of the newly founded UIC Middle-East Railway Training Centre (MERTCe) will take place from 1 – 5 October 2012 in Eskişehir and Ankara in Turkey. The first part of the training session on a “General introduction to Railway Business: legal, operational and commercial framework” will take place in Eskişehir, while the second part “RAME High-Speed Seminar” will take place in Ankara. The two towns are connected by a high speed train, which will be a very good opportunity for one of the technical visits.

The training is targeted mainly, but not exclusively, at staff from Middle-East countries:

• Senior officials of the transportation companies intending to make investments in the railways
• Senior officials of infrastructure undertakings
• Heads of freight and passenger departments of railway undertakings of the Middle-East Region
• Wagon and locomotive producers, track design and building firms, track equipment producers (sleeper, rail, signalling etc.)
• Those responsible for transport planning in the ministries, and in regional and local authorities

By attending the training, the participants will:

• Obtain information and practical knowledge about liberalised rail transport market
• Share experiences in the field of separation between infrastructure managers and operators
• Get a good overview and understanding of current and future trends for rail passenger and freight transport, at global and regional level
• Get in-depth information about high speed rail systems, focusing on strategic elements (stations, environment, traffic forecasting,..)

These training activities are being prepared in close cooperation between UIC HQ and Turkish State Railways (TCDD), the chair railway of the UIC Regional Assembly Middle-East (RAME).

The programme, as well as further details, will soon be available on the UIC website.

Further to the success of the First World Congress on Rail Training which brought together 170 attendees from 34 countries, UIC is pleased to announce the Second World Congress on Rail Training, which will be held at St Pölten University of Applied Sciences (Matthias Corvinus Strasse 15), along with technical visits in Vienna from 24 to 26 April 2013.

The World Congress on Rail Training 2013 is organised at the initiative of the UIC Expertise Development Platform, which draws its expertise from the Regional Network of Rail Training Centres (Europe, Asia, Middle-East,..). Its main purpose is to enhance workforce development through sharing best practice in rail training across the entire industry.

The key congress aims are to:

• Promote excellence in railway training through best practice models
• Highlight research findings in this area which bring innovation and have practical application to the industry
• Identify new challenges for training and training technologies
• Provide a unique opportunity to share knowledge and experience amongst training professionals and managers

The Congress is targeted at human resources and training directors, training executives, and training and workforce development experts. Unlike the First World Congress, the 2013 Congress will be held in English, French and German.

Technical facilities can be provided for other languages if the delegates come with their interpreter.

More information about submission of abstracts and procedure for sponsorship at the following link:

http://www.uic.org/spip.php?rubrique2052

Most European Railways today use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) within their knowledge/data management departments to enhance their business work streams and to respond to new EU requirements.

Indeed, GIS is used today within the railways for capacity conception, network maintenance, train path conception and sales, traffic management, property management and financial management. At the same time, the EU is introducing several initiatives such as the INSPIRE directive (2007/2/EC) to improve location and cross-sector data interoperability. The directive stipulates that elementary spatial railway data need to be available in the INSPIRE format by 2017!

Railway executive managers are not always well informed or aware of the business potential and legal obligations that are associated with GIS technology, still relatively new within the railways.

This two-day training provides a comprehensive understanding of GIS and many illustrative examples of how railways in Northern America and Europe are using this integration technology to bring together different work streams to optimise organisational efficiencies, planning, accountability, communication, and decision-making.

The training is targeted at railway executives and managers who need to understand or promote cross-disciplinary GIS enterprise deployment. No particular knowledge in IT or GIS technology is assumed.

Register online and find the draft programme at the following address: http://www.uic.org/spip.php?rubrique1920

The 5th UIC Railway Policy and Management course, hosted by IRaTCA from 1 – 7 July ended in great success. It was very meaningful that the 5th course got attention in terms of the largest participation composed of delegations from UIC ARA members and non-members as well. In total, 20 trainees and speakers took part in the course.

UIC supported the training programme’s implementation by supplying a lecturer who was involved from the preparatory stage onwards and shared coordinating duties for the programme.

Mr Teodor Gradinariu from the UIC Railway System Department not only gave two lectures: ‘An overview of signalling principles and systems’ and ‘UIC, the worldwide railway association for the trainees’, but also took an active part in the whole course by showing great interest in Asian railways and all other subjects included in the programme. He played a very significant role as a leading participant by asking many questions and also facilitating lectures by answering those in the class who wanted to gain new knowledge.

Japan’s participation also made the lecture package fruitful. Mr Jun Hirano from East Japan Railway Company introduced ‘the overall view of Japan’s transport and operation status’ and ‘structural changes of Japan National Railway’. The trainees also took part in another lecture of his on the specific subject, ‘Railway Safety Management’ in which Japan’s safety system about countermeasures against disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis was mainly introduced.

Mr H.S. Bajwa, Sr. Divisional Operating Manager of Indian Railways, gave general information about Indian Railways in the lecture, ‘Railway Policy in India’, which focused on the modernisation of each railway sector and organisational reform plan of Indian Railways.

The lecture on the status of Taiwan’s high speed rail operations was delivered by Mr Vincent Kuo, Manager of Operation Support Office, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation. The lecture mainly addressed how high speed trains are operated for customers.

Mr Hyon, Director of IRaTCA, thanked the whole group of participants from UIC, China, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam for visiting KORAIL and IRaTCA. He mentioned, "IRaTCA is very encouraged by the fact that the inter-relationships among Asian countries can be strengthened through mutual understanding from the UIC Railway IRaTCA training course.

The certificate award ceremony was held with CEO/President of KORAIL Mr Chung Chang-Young to celebrate the participants’ completion of the training course – during which he delivered his congratulatory speech and presented each participant with a souvenir. In his speech, he stressed the reinforcement of cooperation and human networks through this training programme for the co-prosperity of Asian railways.

On behalf of the trainees, Mr H.S. Bajwa from India gave a reply speech. He appreciated being able to take the course thanks to UIC, KORAIL and IRaTCA. It was also mentioned that the curriculum was considered to be very informative, and the cutting edge technology and operation system of KORAIL felt wonderful. Closing the speech, he said he wanted to visit Korea again, and especially thanked IRaTCA for its hospitality.

The UIC Communications Directory is considered by UIC members as a particularly useful tool for facilitating international cooperation and synergies between communications departments of member railways and with a number of cooperating partner organisations and associations. Its value has been demonstrated through the preparation of international communications campaigns as well as in crisis situations where it is urgent and important to reach the right partners in the railway communications or media departments. The 2012 edition of this Directory has just been published.

This handbook, in a very practical A5 pocket format, provides comprehensive information on the communications department of each member railway or partner organisation, and the names and contact details (for example the languages spoken, etc.) of the head of each function in the communications department:

• Director of Communications, Public Affairs,
• Head of Media Relations,
• Public Relations, Events,
• Publicity,
• Head of Image, Identity,
• Audiovisual, websites, etc.

RZD Logistics, a subsidiary of Russian Railways, has co-founded a joint venture to organise freight transit by rail between China and Europe.

Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, announced the creation of the JV on 21 June 2012 when addressing this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The JV YuXinOu (Chongqing) Logistics Co. Ltd is registered in the city of Chongqing. Its founders are the Transport Holding of Chongqing (CQCT), the China Railway Company for International Multimodal Transport (CRIMT), RZD Logistics, Schenker China Ltd. and the Kaztransservice Joint Stock Company.

With 51.1% of the charter capital, the Chinese are the major shareholders, while the foreign investors hold equal shares of 16.3% in the JV.

The main activity of YuXinOu (Chongqing) Logistics Co. Ltd. will be organising regular rail container shipments between Chongqing in China and Duisburg in Germany. The first container train from Chongqing to Duisburg is scheduled for the end of June 2012. The company will also provide freight forwarding, customs, information, consulting and other services related to the provision of international container traffic. The ultimate goal is to create a logistics company which provides third-party logistics services (3 PL) “door to door”.

The company’s business model provides for RZD Logistics to deliver the necessary support, including its knowledge of the Russian freight transport market, as well as technological issues associated with the carrier’s operations. It is forecast that the volume of freight to be carried by the new company from the Chinese province of Sichuan to Europe will reach around 5,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) by the end of 2012.

Potential clients of the joint venture are major international companies in electronic information technology, manufacturers of components and units, machinery, the chemical, aviation and software industries and in other sectors which are concentrated in the Chongqing metropolis.

(Source: RZD)

Since 17 July, Mr Constantin Zaharia has taken up the position of Director-General and Chairman of the Board of CFR Marfa S.A. Mr Zaharia’s previous executive positions were Director of CFR Bucharest Region, Traffic Safety Director at Metrorex, and recently, Director-General and Chairman of the Board at the Romanian Railway Authority (AFER). UIC warmly congratulates Mr Zaharia on his appointment.

(Source: CFR Marfa S.A)

Deutsche Bahn and Ural Airlines have signed an agreement on the transfer of the airline’s passengers which will help them to provide an effective air-rail connection. As a result, passengers travelling with Ural Airlines from Moscow to Cologne will be able to continue their trip by rail to other German cities – Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Dusseldorf, and Frankfurt.

Passengers will only need one ticket along the entire route due to the combined sales system of the carriers. The new service will become available starting from August-September 2012.

(Source: Rus Business News)