A NEW RAILWAY SUCCESS

CFR SA, Member in the Executive Committee of UIC

International Union of Railways (UIC) is an association set up on 1922 which has as main objectives the promotion of the cooperation between its members in order to develop the transport on the railways and to improve the exploitation, respecting the right of each member to manage its own activity. What UIC presently proposes is that there should be a coherence of the railway system on European plan in order to reach to the interoperability and, also, in order to improve the competitiveness of the international traffic on the railways.

UIC promotes technologies and methods for the management of the railways; elaborates norms, prescriptions and recommendations; it can interfere at the outside bodies in order to provide representation and in order to defend the common interests of the railways; carries into effect the studies in the field of transports economy, of the research and railway transport development and favors the exchange of information between the members.
In this case there should be also mentioned the fact that Romania is part of the working group regarding the pan-European transport networks, Romanian Railways being founding member of the International Union for Railways.

CFR SA, member in the Executive Committee of UIC
On July 1, 2003, the assembly of the active members of UIC took place in Paris. Represented by its general director, Mr. Mihai Necolaiciuc, the National Railway Company "CFR" SA has been included in the Executive Committee of UIC. We remind here that this body is made of the president, three vice-presidents, the president of the Community of European Railway (CER), the general director of UIC and six persons assigned on the position of general directors of an active member.
Through the new assignment, CFR SA will have the possibility to involve more actively in the decision making process of the Union and in the surveillance of a good execution.
Returning in the country, the general director, Mr. Mihai Necolaiciuc, has declared: "The selection of the company that I manage in the managing bodies of UIC represents a recognition of the efforts made in point of modernizing the railway infrastructure and of aligning it to the international quality standards. An important chapter in the negotiations for the European integration of our country is represented, as it is well known already, by the transport system. We would like that through our modernization programs to support this step of the Romanian Government and of the Ministry of Transports.
Given its new status, CFR SA will be able to act in order to support the interest of the railways from Central and Eastern Europe, concomitantly having the possibility to supervene with proposals in order to favorably orient the decisions projects presented to the General Assembly and the Assembly of the Active Members for the interests of the organization, as well as of the Romanian Railways.

UIC Role
Even if the activity of UIC does not represent a new subject for you, railway men, I believe that it would be interesting to briefly remind its role and importance in the unfolding of the railway transport on international plan. UIC, having the headquarters in Paris, is a non-governmental professional organization, meant for international collaboration in the railway transport. Generally, it promotes the development of the transport on the railways and, especially the collaboration between its members. This organization also proposes the provision of the general coherence of the railways system and its interoperability, for the amelioration of its competitiveness on the continental market of the transports. We can not miss the fact that all 162 UIC members, among whom 70 that are active members (integrated railway companies, railway operators or infrastructure managers), 56 associated members (among whom, the majority of the railway companies from Asia, America, Africa and Australia) and 36 affiliated members (companies with activities connected to the railway field), have to fulfill complex tasks, of a great economical and social importance, which generally, succeed to successfully finalize. It is about: the elaboration of the standards, regulations and recommendations, which facilitate the international traffic; the representation of the railway transport system at world level; the development of the projects, especially in the field of international passengers and freight transport; the management of the infrastructure and the research; the promotion of the exchange of information and experience; the development of the international programs for professional training; the conclusion of agreements with intergovernmental organizations and the cooperation with all the organizations specialized in the railway field and in the transports one.
Today, the main tendency of the UIC policy represents a more emphasized integration of the railway systems, meant to lead to a complete interoperability and at the increase of the importance from the competition point of view between the international railway operations.

Romania cannot back off this time, that is why the maintenance of the existing relationships is vital. "The selection of CFR in the executive structures of UIC proves once again that the strategy of development of the railway transport system from Romania adopted by the Ministry of Transports in year 2000 is appreciated by the international structures", Mr. Miron Mitrea, the minister, was specifying. "Also remembering that CFR is the funding member of this union, I consider as natural the position held for the time being and I hope that contributes further on to the attraction of projects meant to improve the transport infrastructure from our country", he also continued.

The role of the organizational structures of UIC
Managing bodies
I) General Assembly - determines the general policy of UIC.
II) Assembly of Active Members - leads the actions of UIC actions and treats the problems of interest for everyone or only for part of its members; regroups 70 active members and it has two components: Plenary Formation and European Formation.
III) Executive Committee - has competence in decision-making and provides their well execution. It is made of 12 members: the president of UIC, three vice-presidents, the president of CER, the general director of UIC and six persons assigned on the position of general director of an active member from outside of the European Union and of the European Association of the Free Exchange (ALES) - respectively, a representative of the railways from the Central and Eastern Europe.
IV) World Executive Council - has the mission to define the UIC policy on world plan and to promote the actions aiming at enforcing this policy.
Study and decision bodies
The study and decision bodies of UIC are the four commissions on fields - passengers, freight, infrastructure and research - and the two committees - economy - finance - environment and IT.
The Commissions are set up for studying the main categories of problems of interest for the active members, as well as the surveillance of the special projects; they have technical decision power and financial autonomy, being authorized to collect specific contributions.
The Commissions and Committees are meeting in ordinary session twice a year and are made of directors on the fields specific to the European active members. Between the sessions of the commissions and committees, their activity is coordinated by the steering committees, made of a limited number of members (5 members).
The participation of CFR in the managing bodies of UIC, as well as in the other commissions and committees of UIC is provided by the following representatives: Mr. Mihai Necolaiciuc, the general director of CFR SA - member in the Executive Committee, starting with July 1, 2003, on behalf of the railways of Central and Eastern Europe; Mr. Vasile Olievschi, member of BA (Board of Administration) of CFR SA and the general director of DGTF - president of the IT Committee; Mrs. Mariana Dumitrescu, head unit within CFR Calatori- member of the Financing Committee of UIC.
Another interesting aspect is the fact that, through the UIC status, the above-mentioned commissions and committees have the possibility to form sub-commissions in order to treat the problems presenting a continuity feature. In order to examine the problems determined by various causes and to achieve the special projects, the commissions and the committees are also able to form working groups.
Due to the new gained status, CFR attends, through its experts, the activities of the majority of commissions and committees of UIC, and also at the works of the following working groups:
- Juridical group;
- Statistics group;
- RAILLEX project group;
- Ad-hoc group for labor security;
- Working group on environment issues.
The secretariat and the special groups of UIC
The UIC secretariat is provided by the General Department, structured in four departments (Passengers, Freight, Infrastructure, Technical), two divisions (World and East/West), two departments (Management and Communications) and five units (Accounting, Information Management, Linguistic, Logistics and IT). According to UIC status, there can be created special groups having as objective the study of the problems with limited enforcement.
There should be also mentioned the fact that CFR, founding member of UIC, is part of the Group of Networks from the Southern-Eastern Europe (SERG), a special group of UIC, set up in 1992. Named as Balcanic Group, its main objective is the elaboration of a common strategy of the railways aiming at developing the railway transport and up to date point of view with regard to the regional policy in the transports field. SERG is made of six member railways - CFR, BDZ, JZ, HSH, CH and TCDD, and two observers - CFM and CFRYM. Within this group, the representative of CFR also fulfills the position of vice-president.
The managing body of SERG is the Conference of General Directors, which reunites twice a year, the preparation plan of the conference being achieved through the reunion of the assistants, with the participation of the directors of international affairs of the member railways. The working groups of SERG are: Infrastructure, Technical Aspects, Passengers, Freight, IT and Public Relations.

Missions created within UIC
Through the UIC reform there have been created important bodies: High Speed Mission and East-West Mission, which have the role to support and to stir aspects of a great present interest of the railway activity through the formulation of certain solutions viable for the specific issues.
High Speed Mission is in charge with the achievement of the specific technical and economical studies aiming at promoting the high speed Pan-European railway network. Since 1997, CFR is part of the project with volunteer participation High Speed, treating subjects related to the profitability, traffic provisions, financial solutions, interoperability, swinging technology, costs reduction etc. For the high-speed routes between the neighbor countries, the Romanian Railways has concluded protocols with JZ, MAV and UZ.
The expectations of all the railway specialists are closely related to the idea that the high speed railway transport of year 2015 to be unfolded on performant, distinct networks, within certain corridors which allow large traffic densities, and the trains will be driven and controlled through centralized exploitation systems.
East-West Mission (set up in 1994) is a reflection and initiative group, which has as goal finding solutions for the issues that the Central and Oriental Europe networks are confronting with pursuant to the changes of political and economical order from the last years. The main objective of the East -West Mission is the development of a homogenous and integrated pan-European railway system, in order to ameliorate the position of the railways on a European market of the transports will include the networks of the European Union and the ones of PECO.
East -West Mission is made of 12 members: DB-AG, FS, OBB, SNCF, VR, CH - on behalf of the railways of the member countries of the European Union, and BDZ, CD, CFR, MAV, PKP, ZSR - on behalf of the countries from the central and eastern European countries. As a specialized body within UIC, it has created working groups for the railway component of the pan-European railway transport corridors.
There should be also pointed out the fact that part of the studies that are the object of the UIC activity are achieved within certain special projects. It is about: projects of general interest - of interest for the assembly and the majority of the European members, financed through the contribution of all UIC members (special projects with obligatory participation - PPO) and projects with variable geography - that are financed only through the contribution of those members that are willing to participate (projects with volunteer participation - PPV).
As there has been demonstrated, the legislative framework from our country referring to the railway transport field takes into account the tendencies of the development and of the modernization on European plan, based on the principles presented in the documents of the European Union, also representing, concomitantly, the support of the development and the improvement of CFR SA activity. Therefore, in the near future, through the fact that it will align to the technical standards and to the operational parameters of the European agreements and projects, the railways from Romania will be included among the European railway networks that are important for the international passengers and freight transport.

Oana Branzan