J P Batra elected UIC Chairman

New Delhi, Dec 8 (UNI) Railway Board Chairman J P Batra has become the first non-European to be elected as Chairman of the Paris-based International Union of Railways (UIC), a prestigious world-wide organisation for international cooperation among railways and promotion of rail transport mode.

Mr Batra is presently Chairman of the World Executive Council (WEC) of UIC, an executive body of Chief Executives from different geographical regions of the world and responsible for UIC activities at the global level.

The organisation, founded in 1922, has 171 members, including railways, rail operators, infrastructure managers, railway service providers and public transport companies, spread over all the five continents.

For the past one year, the organisation has been gearing up for new challenges, especially railway liberalisation, increasing competition from other transport modes, the growing economic constraints on railways together with the challenge of globalisation of the transport market.

On the agenda of the UIC are issues like development of intercontinental freight corridors, cooperation within the metre and broad gauge groups, interactive seminars between customers (railways) and suppliers (world industry), projects in the field of training and strategic management, that is, creation of an Inter Railway Strategic Management Institute (IRMSI).

Major functions undertaken by UIC involve promoting technical cooperation between its members and maintaining the overall coherence of the railway system, notably at pan-European level, and achieving inter-operability which is one of the keys for bolstering rail transport competitiveness.

In this context, UIC acts as a technical platform to support the work of railway associations; spearheads international rail cooperation projects and concludes agreements with intergovernmental organisations and other trade bodies associated with transport matters.

UNI/SKS PK KP1745