The UIC code is the reference catalogue of UIC leaflets: some 600 UIC Leaflets are indexed.
On the web site: the UIC code is a database of UIC Leaflets which the general public may consult at any time. All Leaflets are indexed here.
Print version: it exists in the form of a catalogue updated 4 times a year and which contains the complete updated collection of the Leaflets.
The UIC Leaflets are classified by major field which represent the chapters of the UIC code. These are detailed below:
- 0. Statutes and regulations
- 1. Passenger traffic and bagg
- 2. Freight traffic
- 3. Finance, accounting, costs, statistics
- 4. Operation
- 5. Equipment
- 6. Haulage
- 7. Fixed installations
- 8. Technical specifications
- 9. Information technology, other
Within the context of its primary mission of "standardisation and improvement of location and operating conditions of railways with a view to international traffic", the UIC has developed common measures, specifications and recommendations aimed at facilitating international rail traffic.
The UIC Leaflets are professional documents, the application of which is either obligatory or recommended. They are the result of international cooperation between experts of the member railway networks of the UIC, more often than not in collaboration with other experts in the industry, standardisation organisms, etc. Their content makes them of global value and they are a reference for the entire railway community. They aim at unifying or standardising the construction measures as well as the railway operating procedures with a view to facilitating international traffic. They also allow members to rationalise their operations and to lower their costs.
The UIC Leaflets are applied, according to their content, by railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, industry, public works undertakings, etc. The measures they contain are often integrated in national norms, European norms, global invitations to tender for railway equipment.
They therefore contain the technical requirements which must be respected to facilitate the exchange of equipment between the networks, as well as cross-border transport.
Until 1998, the UIC Leaflets were updated by manual insertion of modifications in the Leaflet. This laborious method, a source of errors for our members and customers, was abandoned in 1999, the launch date of the computerisation project of UIC Leaflets using the structured documentation software Adobe Framemaker 9.
Since 1999, the implementation of the UIC Leaflet computerisation project has brought about the adoption of the method of complete substitution of an edition n by an edition n+1. Thus, with each new modification approved by the committee of experts, a new edition is produced.
UIC has entrusted the production of its Leaflets to its subsidiary ETF (Editions Techniques Ferroviaires = Technical Railway Publications). Its mission is to:
The UIC Leaflets are systematically published in the 3 official languages of the UIC. For each Leaflet, the language used in drafting it is designated as the official version; the others are therefore translated versions.
Since 1999, the computerisation of the UIC Leaflets has allowed a diversification of the means of distributing the Leaflets. In addition to the distribution of the print version, which is to continue, the UIC Leaflets are henceforth available in electronic form (Acrobat pdf):
New documents (1st edition) and new editions (2nd edition and after) of the UIC Leaflets are regularly published on the web site in the UIC Leaflets section.
The UIC Leaflets published are linked to lists of publications which appear 4 times a year on the following dates: 1st February, 1st May, 1st August and 1st November.
On the web site: since it involves a database, each UIC Leaflet publication brings about the automatic update of the catalogue of Leaflets. The web site is thus always up-to-date.
All UIC Leaflets for sale are indexed here. It is open to the general public
as pdf file on the ETF website (print
version of the UIC Code). Different search criteria are possible to
find a Leaflet: these are detailed later in the document.
These Leaflets can be recognised on the site by means of:
- a "summary" hypertext link. The aim of the summary of the Leaflet is to inform the reader about the content of the Leaflet. It is accessible to everyone on Internet. By reading this, it should be possible to determine whether or not the Leaflet in question is the leaflet required.
- a "download the Leaflet" hypertext link which provides access to a pdf file of the Leaflet and which can be downloaded by UIC members only (login + password)
The only Leaflets available in pdf format are those which have been published since 1999. The full list of the Leaflets can be consulted in the section leaflets on line.
Before this date, no other Leaflet can be downloaded in this format.
How to access computerised Leaflets on the site:
- via the online leaflets section (alphanumerical list of all computerised Leaflets since 1999),
- via the new documents section,
- via the search section.
These are decided and voted by a committee. A cancellation means that the
content of a Leaflet is no longer valid and therefore no longer applies.
On the web site, 2-page documents are available in pdf format which can
be downloaded by anyone by clicking on the hypertext link "Download the
cancellation ".
By clicking on this link, the latest list of publications is automatically
displayed. It is also possible to consult the 3 previous lists of publications
by clicking on the scrolling menu then on OK.
By clicking on this link, you are presented with 4 search criteria .
- search by chapter: this search illustrates the fields of rail transport in which the Leaflets are classified and enables you to consult all Leaflets referring to each chapter.
- search by Leaflet number, very practical for direct access to the Leaflet desired.
- search by part of title: this function facilitates a plain-text search of the titles of the UIC Leaflets. Example: enter "bogies" and the list of Leaflets where this word appears in the title is displayed.(on the DVD of the UIC Leaflets, a Leaflet content search is possible.)
- search by list of publications: this function allows you to find and consult the last 4 lists of publications. Each year, four lists of publications are published every three months on a fixed date.
In response to a high demand from customers, ETF has created a DVD of the computerised Leaflets in pdf format.
This DVD contains all the pdf files of the UIC Leaflets published between 1999 and 2012.
It contains all the computerised files to date.
