UIC Internet Club Forum,
On Seventh Edition

During October 2-3, the current year, the seventh edition of the UIC Internet Club Forum took place in Paris. The goal of this reunion is to sustain the railways in order to present their offers of services through the use of the applications and of the IT technologies, the motto of the reunion of this year being "Connecting the Transport Chain: Information Integration for Effective Customer Service."

The Internet Club of UIC has been set up on October 1997, having as purpose the enhancement of the experience exchange between the members of the union in the field of Internet applications and of other associated technologies. Through the participation to this club, the UIC members have been encouraged to present their own Internet pages, their development plans and the experience gained in this field, and also the problems and the solutions occurred during the time.
UIC Internet Club Forum covers all the aspects of the Internet technology, including in this case: the development of the electronic commerce in the railway field, various aspects of the IT technology (security of the electronic exchanges, technical aspects) or the development of a communications sector (electronic main, list of e-mail addresses, forums, data bases etc) at the level of the experts inside the railway system. The role of the club is of coordination and not of decision making. It works as an agency for the promotion of a new information system technology and, in particular, for the extension of the electronic commerce between the member railway administrations. This body can initiate studies, reports and recommendations of the experts, handout afterwards to the decision bodies of UIC, who can take them into consideration in their future actions.
Since its creation and up to the present time, it had two presidents, the one of the French Railways (SNCF) and the one of the Canadian Railways (Via Rail). Currently, the two railway administrations share the presidency of the club through Misters Michel Baudy, director within SNCF, and Mohamed Bhanji, marketing director of Via Rail.
Besides the annual organization of the reunion, along the time there is also unfolded a series of studies on the various aspects of the electronic commerce, moderates the list of the electronic letters (over 300 addresses!) through which UIC monthly sends to all the members of the organization a report for its current activity and organizes working meetings between the specialists.
During this year, there took place two working reunions: Internet Manager's Club (reuniting 13 European railway administrations) and Webmasters Club (18 European railway administrations).
The edition 2003 of the Internet Club Forum took place, under the aegis of UIC, by all means, and also of UNIFE. During the two days of the reunion, besides the afferent discussions, there have been also organized two exhibitions in order to present new products and solutions that the producers from the railway system offer, among the exhibitors also including well-known names in the field, as: ELCA, SYSRAIL, SkyEye, RMI, ITSS, Stinnes Logistics and so on.
The work program included a set of conferences and presentations that are very special. On behalf of the European Commission, in the first day, Mr. Roberto Ferranve (Belgium) has presented a work about the EU initiatives in the interoperability field, reviewing the European Union Policy in this field, including the legislative trends and the future initiative, the IT perspectives and the new visions on the services offered by the European system of freight railway transport.
The representative of ITSS - IATA Travel Settlement Services, from Canada, Mr. Pasquale Rizzi, has presented on this occasion a study achieved by the company that he is representing on the efficiency in using an innovative product enhancing the transactions by using the online selling and programming services between the tourism agencies and the ones who are practically producing or they are involved in any way in this activity (railway and air transport companies, hotels, assurance companies, companies for renting the cars etc). The system that has been presented mainly defines, through the flexibility, being able to adapt to all the requirements of those involved, the various companies, as well as their clients.
An "up to date" subject debated in Paris was the Strategies for Railway Distribution - Approaching the Potential Customers, presented by Mr. Philip Martin, from France, who has underlined the fact that, due to the minimal negative effects on the environment, the railway system is the most viable transport mode, and by its great extension on the European continent reaches to a large number of potential customers. Moreover, through the extension of the high-speed networks and of the Intercity type service, the Railways has become a more competitive mean than the other transport alternatives.
The train ticket selling in the ticketing system, which is also votive in our country, is further on an up to date subject. H. Hillemanns, the representative of ELCA, from Switzerland, has presented a study on the security offered by the ticketing system, evoking the experience gained in this field and also approaching the future applications and extensions that the market offers.
Mr. Petr Kroca (Czech Republic) spoke with respect to the information circulation in the railway system, who has underlined the role of the permanent and complete update of a database in the European railway freight transport field through the operation according to the method of data collecting, processing and distribution.
Through the debases occasioned by this forum, as well as through the future ones, Internet Club of UIC makes its contribution to the development on all plans of the European railway system.

Ileana Statie