MARIE - Mass Transit Rail Initiative for Europe

Partners: UNIFE and UITP under the auspices of the European Commission

	An initiative created by companies drawn from across the rail industry with the goal of improving Mass transit competitiveness.
	Four working groups have been created: Design, Life Cycle Cost and Terms and Conditions and Financial Engineering
	All activites are co-ordinated by a high level strategic board

Design Working Group

Objective: to identify a core or functional design criteria to allow Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) in order to:

	Reduce the cost of rolling stock, signalling and infrastructure by economies of scale and increasing competition between European suppliers all able to work to the same specification
	Make LRV Systems more affordable by allowing the development of a second hand market for vehicles that can be used on more than one network

Life Cycle Cost Working Group

Objective: to define objectives, principles and potential uses of life cycle cost and encourage good practice:

	guide design & improve products
	optimise duration of life
	tendering procedure
	contract management
	develop lease contracts
	organise maintenance activities

Terms & Conditions Working Group

Objectives:

	to suppress the costly disparities of national practices
	to focus on high quality, prices, new technology and delivery times
	to increase transparency of the tenders
	to use internationally recognised trading practices
	to propose common guidelines for co-operation

For more information contact Loris di Pietrantonio at +32 2 626 12 63 or email loris.di.pietrantonio@unife.org

Financial Engineering Working Group

Objective: to report on the opportunities available for market expansion provided by innovative finance.

For more information contact Loris di Pietrantonio at +32 2 626 12 63 or email loris.di.pietrantonio@unife.org