UIC: the worldwide international organisation of the railway sector
UIC including 197 members across all 5 continents
· 82 active members (including the railways from Europe, Russia, the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa, India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Korea, Kazakhstan, and companies operating worldwide such as Veolia Transport)
· 80 associate members (including railways from Asia, Africa, America and Australia)
· 35 affiliate members (related or ancillary rail transport businesses or services)
UIC members may be:
· integrated railway companies
· infrastructure managers
· railway or combined transport operators, rolling stock and traction leasing companies service providers (restaurant services, sleeping cars, public transport, maritime transport)
UIC mission and objectives
UIC mission:
to promote rail transport at world level and meet the challenges of mobility and sustainable development.
to promote rail transport at world level and meet the challenges of mobility and sustainable development.
Main UIC objectives:
· facilitate the sharing of best practices among members (benchmarking)
· support members in their efforts to develop new business and new areas of activities
· propose new ways to improve technical and environmental performance
· promote interoperability, create new world standards for railways (including common standards with other transport modes)
· develop centres of competence (High Speed, Safety, Security, e-Business, …)
UIC original principal task
to harmonise and improve conditions for railway constructions and operations
· The idea of creating an international organisation, bringing together the railway companies, was developed in the wake of the international conference of Portorosa, in Italy on 23 November 1921, followed by the international conference of Geneva on 3 May 1922.
· State representatives favoured the “creation of a permanent rail administration focusing on international traffic for the standardisation and improvement of conditions of railway construction and operations “. The international conference founding UIC was held in Paris on 17 October 1922.
· Initially the UIC had 51 members from 29 countries including Japan and China, which were soon joined by the railways from the USSR, the Middle East and North Africa.