Bringing Europe closer to a Single European railway system:
Memorandum of Understanding on Interoperability signed by the European Commission, UNIFE, UITP, UIC and CER
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On Friday the 8th of June 2001 in Naples (Italy), the European Commission Deputy Director General of DG Energy and Transport (DG TREN), Fernando de Esteban, representing Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the European Parliament, Transport and Energy, and the heads of the major rail industry partners (UIC, CER, UNIFE and UITP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to move Europe closer to a single European railway system.
The Memorandum of Understanding complements the objectives of the rail infrastructure package and the recently voted interoperability directive for conventional rail. The document outlines a common approach and common goals for the European Commission and the following associations: UNIFE (Union of European Railway Industries), UITP (International Association for Public Transport), UIC (International Union of Railways), CER (Community of European Railways) for bringing about the changes needed to achieve greater interoperability and reduce costs making the industry more competitive and efficient. These objectives are complemented by a Joint Strategy on Rail research that will possibly form part of the 6th Framework programme for Research & Development.
The main objectives outlined are the following:
- Creating a Single European Railway System
This is already partly in practise for High Speed rail and the action of today promotes greater interoperability of conventional rail. This will result in greater harmonisation of technical standards including safety, increased competitiveness for both passenger and freight transport by reducing costs for the industry and increasing efficiency for cross border travel.
- High speed: The AEIF (European Association for Railway Interoperability) will review, update and promote the ETCS/ GSM-R specifications, the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs), implementation of the Commission Decisions on ERTMS and the Commission Recommendation on the basic parameters of the high speed Trans-European rail system and the implementation of a European-wide ERTMS deployment plan.
- Conventional Rail: The AEIF will be responsible for the drafting the conventional rail TSIs. The first group of TSIs should be ready by April 2003 for formal adoption in 2004.
- European Commission: The European Commission supports financially and technically the work of AEIF.
- Joint Strategy for European Rail Research with the aim of achieving Interoperability of Europe’s railways
- UIC, CER, UITP and UNIFE Joint Strategy for European Rail Research: This joint strategy aims to achieve a single European rail system in both high-speed and conventional rail. This will apply to both passenger and freight traffic in Europe while further enhancing safety and reliability through collaborative, pre-competitive research of their respective members.
- The steering group for this research will be the European Rail Research Strategy Group. And the Secretariat of the European Rail Research Strategy Group will be taken over by the AEIF.
These commitments on behalf of the European Commission and their rail partners, UIC, CER, UNIFE and UITP will enable the European rail industry to increase its contribution to sustainable transport in Europe and improve accessibility for goods and people in the future.
Participants in the Signing of the Memorandum:
- Mr Fernando de Esteban, Deputy Director General DG Transport and Energy of the European Commission (DG Tren)
- Mr Miguel Corsini, UIC Chairman and President of RENFE
- Mr Giancarlo Cimoli, Member of CER Management Committee and Member of Board of FS
- Dr. Wolfgang Meyer, UITP President and Director of Cologne Transport
- Mr Herbert Steffen, UNIFE Chairman and President of Siemens Transportation System
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