REMINDER: 119 days to go the 14th International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) 9 June 2022, Denver (USA)

SAVE THE DATE and Call for papers ILCAD Launch Conference: deadline: 1 March 2022

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International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) is a worldwide initiative to improve awareness for level crossing safety. Since 2009, the campaign has been spearheaded by the International Union of Railways (UIC), the worldwide railway organisation, with the support of the railway community around the world.

About 50 countries usually take part in the annual ILCAD campaign.

Each year, a partner country hosts the launch event, where we have the opportunity to share good practices and projects to improve safety and reduce the accident toll.

This conference attracts railway industry representatives, road authorities, academics, and many other interested parties from around the world who are working to raise awareness about the dangers surrounding level crossings.

In 2021, Network Rail and UIC jointly organised the remote ILCAD launch conference. It was to have taken place at the National Railway Museum in York, but was moved online owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over 300 people from 47 countries (representing every continent with a railway) joined the 2021 conference. Speakers presented engineering options, innovative solutions and education measures to improve safety at level crossings.

The international conference to launch the 14th ILCAD campaign will be held in Denver (USA) on 9 June 2022, preceded by a special session on “Trespass and Suicide Prevention” on 8 June and followed by a technical visit on 10 June.

Public targeted in 2022: Vulnerable people

The themes of the 2022 launch conference are:

Technology – Technologies that can help educate people, raise awareness, and ultimately prevent accidents at level crossings
Enforcement/regulations – Joint initiatives by the railways together with local authorities and the police force to encourage people to observe the Highway Code
Community outreach – The best means of making people aware of the safety risks at crossings

Click here to submit an abstract for the ILCAD 2022 Conference and complete the form. Deadline: 1 March 2022

Call for papers
Special session on Trespass and Suicide Prevention
8 June 2022 (afternoon), Denver (USA)

According to the Safety Database Report 2021 of the International Union of Railways (UIC), over 90% of all fatalities on the rail infrastructure involve third parties (mainly trespassers and level crossing users).

The International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) is a worldwide initiative to improve awareness for level crossing safety. Since 2009, the campaign has been spearheaded by the UIC, the railway organisation, with the support of the railway community around the world.

Due to the absence of a global platform to handle Trespass and Suicide Prevention, it became clear that UIC, representing the railways on a global level, should take the lead on these issues that have such an immense impact on the railway operations of our members.

In 2021, UIC therefore decided to set up an international working group to establish an international exchange on existing Trespass and Suicide Prevention programmes, best practices, and measures taken or to be taken to decrease the number of incidents and casualties.

In the afternoon of 8 June 2022, the day before the ILCAD Conference, we are for the first time organising a half-day session dedicated to Trespass and Suicide Prevention.

Trespass and suicide events impact the entire railway industry with their adverse effect on safety, performance, reputation, costs and efficiency. This is an issue that affects all parts of the business and society as a whole, and is therefore a problem that we must tackle together.

The Trespass and Suicide Prevention session aims to share with our partners from industry the key activities being undertaken within the scope of existing programmes.

The objective of this session is to identify what exists, what else is needed, what individual organisations can do to help prevent trespassing and suicides, and how we can work much closer together on these issues.

To submit an abstract for the Trespass and Suicide Prevention session on 8 June 2022, please click here and complete the form. Deadline: 1 March 2022

All events on 8, 9 and 10 June are being co-organised by the International Union of Railways (UIC), the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI).

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