1

Editorial

dear members,

it was a great pleasure for me to take over the EFrtC Chairmanship from Fernando Santos at the EFrtC General Meeting in Zurich in May this year.

i would certainly try hard to continue to lead EFrtC in the best way as it was done by my predecessors.

as one of my prime objective i would continue in our joint effort towards more visibility of EFrtC at the European scene and strengthening our cooperation with other stakeholders associations – UNiFE, EiM and CEr. With support of the Board and Chairmen of our professional committees, i hope we can make further achievements in this direction.

We have sponsored the UNiFE-CEr seminar on the investments in the railway infrastructure in Central and East European countries held in Sofia in June this year.

the EFrtC presentations in welcome session by myself, and another one by Miquel lllevat in panel on best practices of management and performing track construction works, have demonstrated that EFrtC is serious in delivering as outlined by its ambitious objectives.

the other subject where we are making continuous progress is our joint work with UNiFE on the on track Machines (otM) authorisation and cross-acceptance. otM task Force is a good mixture of competent experts from manufacturing industry and contractors supported by expertise on tSi in UNiFE secretariat and managed by EFrtC.

We have also met new UNiFE General director, Mr. Philippe Citroën, to discuss our future joint actions in a clear cooperative way using the available resources of UNiFE and EFrtC members.

EFrtC also intends to join rail Forum Europe (rFE) - a new established body of European Members of Parliament, as an associated member. this would enable the EFrtC members to participate at the events organized with these Members of European Parliament.

You will receive more information about all above together with reports about all EFrtC activities at the next General Meeting to be held in the Hague on 18th November 2011.

looking forward to meeting you soon!

Yours sincerely,

addrESS

EFrtC

Secretary General office

FNtP/SEVtF

10, rue Washington

75008 Paris

FraNCE

tel.:+33 1 44 13 31 96

Fax.:+33 1 44 13 31 97

SG-EFrtC@fntp.fr

www.efrtc.org

Published by UNiFE

avenue louise 221

B - 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Editorial .................1

EFrtC NEWS .............2

MEMBEr NEWS ........4

EU NEWS ....................6

EFrtC GENEral MEEtiNG ...................8

CoNFErENCES &SEMiNarS ..................8

CoNtENtS

N°2 2011

E F r t C W E B S i t E : www.efrtc.org

Jo URLINGSEFrtC President

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has not been very pronounced in the past. He concluded by reminding to the audience that the conference is meant to be a best practice exchange on the issue of fund absorption.

the opening panel was concluded by presentation of EFrtC and its activities by its President Jo Urlings offering a support in planning and execution of track construction works in Bulgaria and other Eastern countries.

in his key note speech, Jean Marie Seyler, Director for (inter alia) Bulgaria, DG REGIO, European Commission, made it clear that Europe needs a competitive and efficient transport network that can help achieve the Europe 2020 targets. territorial cohesion needs to be reinforced through a removal of bottlenecks and the completion of mission cross-border links. Structural funds can play a key role in the modernisation. in this context it is important that a sustainable balance between rail and road investments exists. the pre-accession programmes foresaw a ratio of 50:50 for investments in road and rail. this is not the case with the current focus on road. Currently, the Commission also feels that the value for money of Cohesion Policy Spending needs to be increased. in many Central and Eastern European countries rail is unattractive and the infrastructure is in bad need of modernisation. the infrastructure managers of the countries concerned need to take important decisions on how to modernise their network and they must act upon these decisions.

the seminar was then conducted in three subsequent panels:• Fist Panel: Consolidating the infrastructure managers; • Second Panel: Planning rail infrastructure develop-

ment;• third Panel: Managing the investment process in

Central and Eastern European countries.

in the first panel:

Johannes Ludewig, CER Executive Director, stressed that currently, financing for railways in Central and Eastern Europe is not sufficient. the EC funding for CEEC is biased towards road construction and the countries in question give clear priority to road. they invest less money in their rail system than Western European countries. this leads to the fact that 90% of lines are not available for their design speed and capacity. No improvements will be possible without strong political will for supporting funding to railways.

Milcho Lambrev, Director of NRIC – National Railway Infrastructure Company, provided an overview of the current state of affairs. to improve quality of network a new technology is required. He mentioned that Bulgaria managed to secure a loan from the World Bank of EUr 70 million for the rehabilitation of the network and to acquire new on-track machinery. in discussion EFrtC considered the spending for acquisition of the new machinery as unnecessary as there is an overcapacity in Europe which can be used for Bulgaria.

EFRTC NEws

EFrtC SPoNSorEd SEMiNar HEld iN SoFia iN JUNE 2011 oN rail iNFraStrUCtUrE dEVEloPMENt iN CENtral aNd EaStErN EUroPE

UNiFE jointly with CEr and support of European Commission organized this seminar with the aim at improving absorption of EC funding in particular in Bulgaria and other Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC).

EFrtC was sponsoring the seminar events. EFrtC President Jo Urlings had an opportunity to present EFrtC in opening session and Miquel llevat from Comsa Emte representing also EFrtC delivered presentation on “Success critical areas for the effective implementation of railway infrastructure projects”.

the seminar was attended by two Bulgarian ministers, CEo and management of Bulgarian infrastructure manager, EC representatives, UNiFE General director, CEr Executive director and numerous representatives of railway sector and private industry.

in the opening of seminar Mr. Ivaylo Moskovski, Bulgarian Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Bulgaria, set out the objectives for the Bulgarian transport system: by 2030 Bulgaria should have a dense, interoperable and well-performing transport system in which rail needs to play a key role as the most environmentally friendly mode of transport.

Tomislav Donchev, Minister without portfolio, charged with EU funds management, Bulgaria, explained, that the absorption of EU funds was very slow at the beginning of the investment period because there was a delay in projects planning. For the next funding period he expects improvements in all process of planning and management of the projects.

Michael Clausecker, Director General UNIFE, welcomed the speakers and the guests. He pointed out towards what he assumed to be the main obstacles to an efficient railway system in Bulgaria and listed points such as administrative issues, lack coordination, project management skills, tendering, and the political will to construct railways which

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Peter Sisolak, Diretor of Strategy and External relation of Slovak Railways, presented the system of financing the railway infrastructure in the Slovak case. He referred in particular to issues of financial stability, high access charges as the result of staff redundancy and inefficiency and way forward for improvements.

in the second panel:

Nikola Dourtchev, Director General RASTIA, emphasized the importance of multiannual contracts for efficient planning of track renewal and maintenance. He also stressed that turnkey projects can help in solving current lack of capacity for infrastructure modernisation.

Andrzej Massel, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Infrastructure, Poland, presented measures that enhance the efficiency of railway construction in Poland. For proposed high speed line, public-private partnerships are considered as a serious option. Efficiency enhancements might also be possible in the field of maintenance. Poland has adopted a mixed approach for maintenance with an increasing share of maintenance being done by private companies.

Luis de Santiago, Counselor of the Technical Cabinet of Spain Ministry of Transport, presented the case of the investments in the high speed network in Spain. He pointed out on key issues contributing to success of high speed in Spain such as – clear strategy plan for transport infrastructure development, government commitments to build up well-functioning high speed network and dedicated funding to planning and construction. He also mentioned that maintenance of high speed lines is fully contracted to third parties and is increasingly outsourced for conventional lines.

in the third panel:

Lothar Zeller, Transport Sector Specialist in European Investment Bank –EIB/JASPERS office Vienna, underlined the importance of EU funds for the construction of transport infrastructure in many European countries. the role of JaSPEr office is to help to use EC funds efficiently. He was of the opinion that instead of building one line for every possible use, the actual demand should be analysed and the line to be built accordingly. He also advocates an integrated approach of infrastructure planning based on clear strategy that will allow the system to work.

Manfred Lerch, Managing Director, Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH Germany, acknowledged that the railway sector in Bulgaria needs to be completely reformed to be made efficient and attractive to passengers and freight operators while at the same time the infrastructure needs to be fully modernised and reconstructed. He also pointed out that many contractors in the EU have the knowledge and offer good solutions for project management. if awarded a contract, an experienced contractor can bring in a small and professional project management teams and works together with local companies and local staff.

Miquel Llevat, General Director of Comsa Emte Spain, presented a set of criteria to be met for successful projects based on experience of contractors. He provided examples from outcome of EC iNNotraCK project and joint EiM/CEr/EFrtC study on market strategy. He stressed that long-term, credible financial perspectives for infrastructure managers are extremely important as planning stability is at the heart of an efficient process. Private contractors are ready to contribute to increase the efficiency of railway infrastructure but not on the basis of short term savings and initial cost reductions but rather on long term performance contracts based on life cycle costs.

Note: For more details (e.g. presentations) please visit UNIFE website: http://www.unife.org/news_detail.asp?n=Sofia-Seminar-Presentations-online&nid=3016

oN traCK MaCHiNES (otM) taSK ForCE iS MaKiNG FUrtHEr ProGrESS

at the joint meeting with UNiFE held in Paris on 3rd May 2011 a decision was taken to proceed with work aiming at the simplification of otM authorisation and reduction of costs and time for placing otM into the services as stipulated in the EFrtC position paper.

at the EFrtC General Meeting, the final version of EFrtC position paper and remit for joint EFrtC/UNiFE task Force was approved.

then otM task Force met twice, namely in Frankfurt (on 20.07.2011) and in Brussels (on 14.10.2011).

at the meeting in Frankfurt an extensive discussion has led to formulating some immediate actions as follows:

1. Manufacturing industry under the leadership of Matisa (Mr. Franz Messerli) agreed to draft a list of critical items they may cause problems (increase costs and times to place otM in service) with deadline end of September 2011;

2. EFrtC Secretary General to address a letter to the Chairman of CEN tC 256/SC 1 asking for support in identifying harmonized issues in the new EN 14 033 - deadline end of august 2011;

3. UNiFE and EFrtC - to contact Era asking for an informal meeting with the aim at involving otM manufacturing industry and contractors directly into the process of drafting and reviewing relevant tSi;

4. Supposing that a common approach on otM authorization is reached an official meeting with Era and representatives of national authorities from major European countries shall be organized jointly by Era, UNiFE and EFrtC.

First two actions were completed in time, for the third one – a conference call between UNiFE, EFrtC and task Force Chairmanship was organized in august to agree on details of approaching Era and for task 4 no deadline

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MEMbER NEws

was yet fixed as it depends on delivery of results from previous actions.

at the 3rd otM task Force meeting held in Brussels, UNiFE has provided detailed information about the procedures related to the revision of tSi with the aim at better understanding of all potential consequences of tSi to otM.

Manufacturing industry represented by otM Co-Chairman, Mr Franz Messerli, CEo of Matisa presented the first critical comparison of tSi loc & Pas with EN 14 033, part 1 which identified the items where:

• EN14033-1isequaltoTSIspecifications;• Consistencecanbe found forEN14033-1andTSI

referring to the same standards;• Components covered by TSI aremissing in EN 14

033-1; • TSIandEN14033-1showpartlyweakorevenstrong

discrepancies.

the participants have also supported his proposal to keep otM authorisation voluntary in tSi and to proceed with enhancing existing bilateral/multilateral agreements to otM using as a basis the EN 14 033.

the response of CEN tC 256/SC 1 with regard to the future activities of WG 5 on track Machines was also considered, however, otM task Force was of the opinion that the works envisaged by WG 5 cannot be completed in time schedule available for current revision of tSi.

otM task Force therefore decided to take immediate actions to identify the critical items for otM revision in the time schedule adopted by Era.

after an extensive discussion to all presentations and information provided by UNiFE and EFrtC, it was acknowledged that a detailed comparison of tSi and EN 14 033 cannot be done just by internal resources of UNiFE and EFrtC. it was therefore agreed that:

• Chapter4TSILoc&Passhallbeanalysedpointwithregard to its applicability to otM and a detailed comparison of each item of EN 14 033 with chapter 4 tSi loc & Pas shall be performed;

• This will be done on the basis of call for proposalwith detail remit to be drafted by EFrtC by end of october 2011;

• Aconsultant shallbe selectedby15.11 toperformthe work by the end of the year.

in addition to the above it was agreed that existing bilateral/multilateral agreements shall be checked with regard to their potential applicability to otM. the work will be carried out by members of task Force in line with the agreed assignments.

the next meeting of otM task Force will be held in Paris on 25.01.2012.

aFtEr FiNiSHiNG tHE dUtCH HiGH-SPEEd liNE, tHE BEtUWE-liNE aNd MoSt liGHt-rail ProJECtS,HollaNd iS ModErNiZiNG itS StatioNS

after finishing the high-speed line the government in the Netherlands is expecting a large increase in travel by rail.

Prorail as infrastructure Manager believes that modern passengers should be able to count on quality and comfort and started to rebuild all the large stations almost at the same time.

the stations, mostly from the fifties, will be modernised to new public terminals and part of urban projects in the inner cities of amsterdam, arnhem, Breda, delft, the Hague, rotterdam and Utrecht.

these projects are all extra ordinarily complex construction projects, public transport terminals where travelers can easily select the most suitable mode of transport: train, light rail, tram, bus, taxi or ferry.• Project–New Amsterdam station: Building started

in 1997 and will be completed in 2014. New metro line North South is expected to be finished in 2020.

• Project–New Arnhem station: the various transport networks are cleverly connected with as few level crossings as possible.

Project: New Amsterdam station

Project: New Arnhem station

Project: New the Hague station

www.efrtc.org 5

Everyone can find their way easily to the west regional bus station, to the east trolley bus station, to the separate railway platforms for high-speed trains the big car park or to the bicycle storage facility for 5000 bicycles. Building started 2007 and will be completed in 2013.• Project–New Breda station: Building started in 2008

and will be completed in 2013.• Project–New Delft station: this station is part of

the new railway tunnel in the heart of delft. Building started in 2010 and will be finished in 2018.the complete modernised railway zone will be finished in 2025.

• Project–New the Hague station: the transparent design makes the different modes of transport, train, tram, light-rail, metro and bus always clearly visible. Building started 2010 and will be completed in 2015.

• Project–New Rotterdam Central station: First dutch stop of High Speed train from HSl South route. Started in 2008, new metro station with tunnel will be finished in 2012. rotterdam public transport terminal will be completed in 2014.

• Project–New Utrecht Central station: Biggest dutch railway station, started in 2010 and completed in 2015. Platforms for train, bus and tram are underneath the station hall. the station will be surrounded by covered bicycle racks for 22.000 bicycles.

in all these projects the layout of tracks and switches are completely adjusted during long closures of the track. the number of switches will decrease by one third, in addition, to let the trains run faster and departs quickly.

in the projects there are integrated procurements of civil and railway contractor works. logistics are mostly on rail for less traffic on the road. Cooperation between all contracting partners is the basis for success.

UK railWaY iNFraStrUCtUrE:a StratEGiC PErSPECtiVE

the UK railway industry is fortunate in having a substantial committed and funded programme of infrastructure work, including the major cross-london thameslink and Crossrail projects and the planned electrification programmes to the West and in the North West. this is in addition to the significant levels of renewal and maintenance work being undertaken as part of everyday business. and there is also the prospect of the High Speed 2 project coming on stream once Crossrail is complete. it is without doubt an exciting time to be involved in the UK rail industry. But this also brings with it significant challenges – perhaps the major one of which is the agreed need to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

a visible and stable work profile within these large programmes is one of the key enablers to achieving such cost reductions as it gives contractors a stable platform upon which to plan their resources efficiently and invest in equipment and the workforce, and the confidence to pursue innovative infrastructure solutions.

ria and its members have been working hard with Network rail (Nr) and the office of rail regulation (orr) in order to encourage this outcome. Both ria and Network rail run joint groups of suppliers and key Network rail staff designed to foster better communication, mutual understanding and better decisions. Following

Project: New Delft station

Project: New Rotterdam Central station

Project: New Utrecht Central station

Project: New Breda station

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EU NEws

joint work by two of these groups, Nr now has on its web-site forward-look work programmes for all major asset categories available for suppliers to access. and, as importantly, this material is now beginning to include an indication of certainty around the key milestone dates to further facilitate supplier resource planning. this has been a most welcome client/supplier joint initiative which will continue into the longer term.

the process of determining how much money Nr will be allocated for the next 5-year Control Period beginning in april 2014 (CP5) has already begun and is being led by orr. over recent years there has been a damaging hiatus in workload coming to market between the end of one Control Period and the start of the next. in its recent response to the initial industry consultations, ria has argued that truly effective workload planning should be a continuous, living process in which the transition between 5-year control periods effectively becomes unnoticeable. only if this is achieved will suppliers have the necessary confidence and continuity to keep reducing unnecessary costs.

as an early part of the CP5 determination process, the industry has jointly produced an initial industry Plan (iiP) – Network rail, the train operators associations and ria acting together. in previous Control Periods this initial work had been carried out mainly by Nr alone. as part of the iiP framework a major joint Nr/ria asset management exercise is being launched to help Nr optimise the management of its assets. the exercise will have a particular focus on the need to embrace a whole-life costing approach rather than lowest initial cost.

in summary there is a major emphasis on joint working, with the industry pulling together to achieve better workload planning, smoother transition between 5-year

Control Periods and greater knowledge of the railway asset base – all of which will help reduce inefficiency and strip out cost. there is a long way to go. However, the supply chain, as

represented by ria and its membership, will continue to play an active and constructive part of this joint process in order to help steer the industry through what should be a challenging but also rewarding decade.

CoMMiSSioN adoPtS PlaNS aNd GUidEliNES For tHE EU traNSPort NEtWorK

on 19 october the Commission presented its proposal for the “Connecting Europe Facility”, a EUr 50bn investment plan aimed at financing projects, which fill the missing links in Europe’s energy, transport and digital backbone. in particular, the European Union will invest EUr 31.7bn to upgrade Europe’s transport infrastructure, build missing links and remove bottlenecks. this includes EUr 10bn from the Cohesion Fund allocated to transport projects in the cohesion countries, with the remaining EUr 21.7bn available for all Member States investing in transport infrastructure.

on the same day the European Commission unveiled its proposals for the trans-European transport Network Guidelines. the Commission proposed a dual layer approach, consisting of a core network and a comprehensive network. the core network is to reflect the strategically most important parts of the tEN-t network and will be the only part of the network eligible for EU co-financing under the Connecting Europe Facility.

the dual layer approach should enable focusing financial resources on projects of high European added value, such as the removal of bottlenecks and the construction of missing links as well as the deployment of ErtMS. in this regard, UNiFE welcomes the emphasis on ErtMS as a mandatory provision for railway lines in the comprehensive network.

Moreover, the Commission is keen on improving implementation: setting mandatory deadlines for projects’ completion would be helpful to force the various Member States authorities to effectively cooperate. deadlines to 2030 and 2050 for the implementation of the core and the comprehensive networks make sense as tEN-t objectives are aligned to those set in the transport White Paper. However, as 2030 and 2050 are quite far off in the future, it would be essential to set intermediate objectives in order to reinforce the credibility of the programme. For this purpose EU funding should be conditional to the compliance with the established project timeline.

UNiFE will follow with interest the upcoming debates to make sure that the same level of ambition and budget for transport infrastructure is maintained through the co-decision process which will involve the Parliament and the Council.

CoHESioN PoliCY

on 6 october 2011, the European Commission presented its legislative proposals for the next programming period of the Cohesion Policy (2014-2020). UNiFE very much welcomes these proposals that are mostly in line with its position to green the Cohesion Policy and improve absorption capacity of Central and Eastern Europe Member States.

www.efrtc.org 7

although the allocation to transport infrastructure investments is not yet known, it should be constant in comparison with the current programming period (2007-2013) as the Commission requested a similar envelope for the Cohesion Policy as a whole: EUr 376bn.

as regards transport investments, priority will be given to “promoting sustainable transport and removing bottlenecks in key network infrastructure”. the Commission puts emphasis on sustainability and rail transport, which was not the case in the current programming period: the Commission explicitly mentions that besides supporting tEN-t investments, the Cohesion Policy will help “developing environment-friendly and low-carbon transport systems including promoting sustainable urban mobility” and also aims at “developing comprehensive, high quality and interoperable railway systems”.

Co-financing rates can also be modulated to take account of “protection and improvement of the environment”. this opens the door for carbon-proofing of projects, which should be favourable to rail. a constant request from UNiFE to abolish the rule that obliges to deduct track access charges revenues from the eligible expenditure of rail projects is also taken into account, as the Commission proposes two new methods of calculation of the revenue of revenue-generating projects: flat rate revenue percentage and net revenue taking into account the application of the polluter-pays principle. the situation should therefore be improved in the next programming period.

Finally, a huge step forward is the creation of conditions that should lead to a better funds’ absorption by the Member States. in addition to partnership contracts that will be signed between the Commission and each Member State, the Commission imposes that a comprehensive national transport plan with an explicit chapter on railway development is drafted. this plan should contain an appropriate prioritisation of investments according to their contributions to mobility, sustainability, national and European wide network effects. the investments will cover mobile assets and interoperability and capacity building. and the railway chapter must include a realistic and mature project pipeline (including a timetable, budgetary framework), a strategic environmental assessment and measures to strengthen capacity of intermediary bodies and beneficiaries to deliver the project pipeline.

although the Commission proposal shows big improvements in our eyes, UNiFE will have to carefully monitor and influence the legislative process at the Council and at the Parliament that should lead to a final adoption of the texts by 2013.

SHiFt2rail – tHE rail iNdUStrY’S ProPoSal For a rail JoiNt tECHNoloGY iNitiatiVE

Joining forces to meet the challenges ahead for the European rail sector, the Presidents and CEos of

the largest European rail suppliers alstom transport, ansaldoBreda, ansaldo StS, Balfour Beatty rail, Bombardier transportation, CaF, Faiveley transport, invensys rail, Knorr-Bremse, thales Group, and Siemens Mobility on 1 July 2011 signed a declaration of intent to launch a Joint technology initiative. this agreement paves the way for a step change into railway research and industry driven innovation.

a new step in railway research has been taken with an ambitious commitment of the largest European rail suppliers companies to create a single, Europe-wide and industrially-driven r&d programme that will help EU industry to address those societal challenges reinforcing world leadership through innovation.

Joint technology initiatives (Jtis) are a way of implementing large-scale applied and industrial-based research activities, introduced by the 7th Framework Programme, with already some successful implementation that the rail manufacturing industries plan to make use in the next programming period (2014-2020). they move away from the traditional case-by-case public funding of projects approach towards large scale research programs that couple research tightly to innovation. it is the first time that the rail industry seeks to use such a comprehensive research and development scheme, following examples such as the ClEaNSKY initiative by the aviation industry.

the rail Jti called “SHiFt²rail” could create a critical mass of research at European level between EU and private resources to support ambitious industrially-driven research agendas in areas that are crucial for competitiveness and growth. SHiFt²rail will include other partners – Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in particular – and would furthermore take into account the input from railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, and academia.

depending on the final scope of the project and subject to the support provided by the European Union, the financial commitment of the signatories will amount to 600-800€ million Euros over a 6-7 years period. other significant suppliers not included in the declaration of intent’s signatories are already actively working in the SHiFt²rail proposal.

on 19 october 2011, in two separate meetings with Commissioners Kallas and Geoghegan-Quinn, Henri Poupart-lafarge (UNiFE Chairman and alstom transport’s President) together with UNiFE Presiding Board members Sergio de luca (CEo ansaldo StS), Hans-Jörg Grundmann (CEo Siemens rail Systems), Manfred leger (CEo Balfour Beatty rail), and andré Navarri (President Bombardier transportation) reiterated the importance of SHiFt²rail for strengthening rail innovation in Europe against global competition and securing thousands of rail related jobs in Europe, which is of key importance under current economic conditions.

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EFRTC GENERal MEETiNG 2011

EFrtC GENEral MEEtiNG, ZUriCH, MaY 2011at the invitation of VSBtU - Swiss railway infrastructure Construction Undertakings the EFrtC hold its spring General Meeting in Zurich on 25th May 2011. Urs Zinsli, Member of EFrtC Board welcomed the participants on behalf of VSBtU and briefly introduced the Swiss railways and its infrastructure. afterwards, the EFrtC President, Fernando Santos delivered his welcome and opened the meeting.

the meeting was then conducted in accordance with the agreed agenda as follows.

in the statutory part of the meeting, the GM approved:• CompositionofthenewBoardforthenext2years;• Appointment of Mr J.H.M (Jo) Urlings as the new

EFrtC President;• EFRTCaccounts2010.

Chairman of Policy and Research Committee – Mr Jeremy Candfield provided information on the state of the completion of the Market strategy report and other envisaged activities falling within the scope of Committee.

on other issue related to this Committee Secretary General informed the participants on the kick of meeting of EC aUtoMaiN project and role of EFrtC in the project.

Further Secretary General reported on:• TheprogrammeofseminarinSofiaonthedevelopment

of CEEC railway infrastructure and participation of EFrtC;

• UNIRAILINFRAmeetingon10thFebruary2011,withparticular emphasis on UNiFE initiative concerning maintenance outsourcing, Contacts to EiM;

• LastERRACPlenaryMeeting.

Chairman of Safety and Security Committee – Mr Jo Urlings provided information on the following issues:• Databaseonaccidents/incidentsontrackworks;• PresentsituationinproducingCENstandardsbyWG

39;• Drivinglicenseimplementationprocess;• Newapproachesinsafetyoftrackworksasappliedin

Germany.

Mr. Markus Hofmann, Chairman of otM task Force from leonhard-Weiss reported on the outcome of an informal meeting on otM with UNiFE and presence of EiM and CEr representatives held in Paris on 03.05.2011. at this meeting it was proposed to set up a task Force with membership of contractors and track machines manufactures with joint chairmanship – on behalf of EFrtC to be assured by Markus Hofmann as Chairman from leonhard-Weiss, and on behalf of UNiFE by Mr Franz Messerli as Vice-Chairman from Matisa. the GM approved the proposed chairmanship and composition of otM task Force and took note of the revised EFrtC position paper on otM with the remit for task Force.

www.efrtc.org

CoNFERENCEs & sEMiNaRs

Full events list: http://www.unife.org/events_list.asp

Highlight: Rail Forum Europe Event: UPCoMiNG EVENt on 15 November 2011, Strasboug (France): innovation & research for a more competitive European rail sector – Challenges and Solutions for Horizon 2020

http://www.rail-forum.eu/category/events

afterwards Secretary General provided information on tSi infrastructure update and possibilities for EFrtC to be involved in the update process. He further provided link to all relevant documents and explained the EC legal and regulatory framework in relation to standardisation architecture and processes. Further he presented activities of CEN tC 256/SC 1 which included information on the progress of the work of standards related to contractors, published standards, resolutions taken at the 39th plenary session and information about restructuring tC 256/SC 1. He drew the attention on the change of Chairmanship of two Working Groups important for contractors – WG 39 Safety of works and WG 4 track maintenance machines.

Mr Nicolas Furio, Senior UNIFE Infrastructure Manager in his presentation informed about:• ECWhitePaperonTransport;• RailinfrastructureinvestmentsinCentralandEastern

Europe;• UNIFEinfrastructurerelatedR&Dactivities.

He drew the attention to low absorption of EC funding to the railway infrastructure in Eastern countries and in particular in Bulgaria. there was a fear that unused funding may be transferred to road sector, however, the national governments cannot take the decision in this regard without EC agreement.

Mr Mojmir Nejezchleb, Technical Director of ZPSV/OHL presented the profile and activities of his company. in his capacity as Czech coordinator to EFrtC he expressed interest to participate in the future joint Working group WS B – long term planning and WS E – Contracting strategies.

in the afternoon session the participants highly appreci-ated the presentation of the invited speakers, namely:• Dr. Peter Füglistaler, Head of Swiss Federal Traffic

Office on “Swiss traffic policy and its financing”;• Mr. Philippe Gauderon, Head of Infrastructure

Division of Swiss Federal Railways on “Future challenges for Swiss Federal railways infrastructure”.

the meeting was closed by the President statement inviting the next General Meeting to be held in the Netherlands on 18th November 2011.

Note: All the presentations are available on EFRTC website www.efrtc.org (see folder EVENTS, report on EFRTC GM in Zurich with links for downloading presentations)