On 4 and 11 June 2020, the UIC Asia-Pacific Region organised an online Workshop on Projects, planned in Perth on 12 May 2020, before the Covid-19 epidemic. Around 60 participants from China, Kazakhstan, Japan, Korea, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Thailand, etc. joined the meeting virtually.
Mr François Davenne, UIC Director General, opened the workshop and thanked all the members for their commitment to UIC despite the Covid-19 crisis. He also underlined that UIC continued working, developing a web conferences system to be able to respect as much as possible the planning of UIC activities.
Mr Vincent Vu, UIC Asia-Pacific Coordinator and Director Institutional Relations, then introduced the agenda of the two-day workshop dedicated first to the 2019-2020 projects status and second to the projects 2021.
According to the UIC Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly (APRA) Vision 2050 strategy which indicates what UIC Asia-Pacific is today (mission, core values, core competencies) and what it aspires to be in the future, a “bridge” has to be built by the activity in developing, promoting and guiding specific projects.
Such activity needs to cover a regional and sub-regional level and it has to be able to represent the UIC Asia-Pacific region’s position with international organisations and intergovernmental agencies, with national authorities and governments and with the railway manufacturing industry.
Since 2017, APRA team has maintained the Project incubator which is a think tank of APRA members. Each year, it is filled with new ideas proposed by project leaders and kept for further consideration after the opt-in voting process.
The workshop of APRA projects, organised twice a year, is an event which allows to introduce the status of current projects, present new ideas and projects and evaluate the projects incubator.
This workshop was divided into two sessions. The first session took place on 4 June and was dedicated to the introduction of the status of the following projects achieved and available to the members of UIC or continuing in 2019-2020:
- Technology for High Speed Freight and Passenger Train Traffic between China and the European Union undertaken by Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), China
- Track Economical Maintenance Decision based on Life Cycle Cost undertaken by China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited (CARS), China
- Research on the Status Quo of Key System Technical Standards for High Speed Trains undertaken by CARS, China
- Research on the Railway Development Policy in Asia-Pacific Region for a Better Fulfilling of railways’ Role as the Backbone in Integrated Transport undertaken by CARS, on behalf of China State Railway Group, Co., Ltd., (CR), China
- Study on the Best Practices of Railway Digitalisation and Intelligent Railway Technology System Framework undertaken by CARS on behalf of CR, China
- UIC-KORAIL Training Session 2020 on Railway Passenger Service based on IT Technology undertaken by Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL), Korea – postponed to 5 – 9 April 2021
- Predicting the maintenance of railway infrastructure with digital technology undertaken by Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ), Kazakhstan
- Big Data-Based Timetable Management undertaken by Research and Design Institute for Information Technology, Signalling and Telecommunications on Railway Transport by JSC Research and Design Institute for Information Technology, Signalling and Telecommunications in Railway Transportation, (NIIAS), Russia
- Measures for the effective development of multimodal transport in the Asia-Pacific Region aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the railway transport, phase III (INTERTRAN III) undertaken by Russian Railways (RZD), Russia.
The second session held on 11 June was dedicated to the presentation of new 40 projects proposed by the UIC Asia-Pacific members, including 6 multiregional projects presented by the UIC Passenger Department.
All projects are split up into Matrix according to APRA Strategy 2050. The Matrix includes sectors such as: Strategy & Institutional relations, Freight, Digital, Interoperability and Standards, High Speed, Training Programmes, Workshops & Business improvements, Infrastructure & Rolling Stock, Environmental Sustainability, Urban Development.
The result of the voting process for the 2021 projects will be reported during the next Workshop on Projects in Nur-Sultan hosted by Kazakhstan railways and the selected projects will have to be approved by all APRA members during the 30th APRA held in Kazakhstan on 27 October 2020.
