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Qatar - Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) concluded the 1st International Conference on Railway Interoperability, Standardisation and Harmonisation in the Middle East. The aim of the event was to assist in developing a coherent, integrated, and competitive rail transport system to serve the region's economy and society.
Organised by UIC, the International Union of Railways; UIC Middle East; OTIF, the Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail; CIT, the International Rail Transport Committee; and hosted by Qatar Rail, the conference provided a unique opportunity to discuss the latest developments in optimising international cross-border rail transport.
The varied participation of industry leaders from the railway and transportation sector was indicative of the two-day event's importance. The conference focused on three major topics that discussed "legal interoperability framework", "railway harmonization and standardization", "Railway Safety", "Harmonization of cross-border transport" and "railway suppliers' perspectives on interoperability".
Participating companies mainly included OTIF, UIC, CIT, SRO - Saudi Arabia, Etihad Rail - UAE, Oman Rail, Moroccan State Railways, UIC - Africa, TCDD - Turkey, RAI - Iran, Sina Rail Pars Transport - Iran, AFRA - Afghanistan, Huawei Technologies - China, Alstom Transport - France, and Qatar Rail.
Commenting on the event's success, Eng. Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Subaie, Managing Director of Qatar Rail said:
"As expected, UIC RAME event gave all participating companies from the Middle East region the chance to bring together their views and plans for Railway Interoperability, Standardisation and Harmonisation. At Qatar Rail, we envisage the development of a Long Distance Rail that will form part of the planned GCC cross-border railway network that will enable a higher level of cooperation between the member states. We were happy to exchange expertise and thoughts with stakeholders and fellows, and push further towards Qatar's national transportation objectives".
From his part, Abdulrahman Ali Al Malik, Long Distance Project Director at Qatar Rail, said:
"Constructing a high-tech rail network that connects the GCC region enables a closer degree of cooperation between the member states, in line with the GCC region's vision. This will also facilitate cross-border trade for local, regional and international businesses in the near future. In this light, the Qatar Rail Development Program (QRDP) is currently developing a long distance passenger and freight rail network to connect major cities and industries in Qatar, and to play its role in linking the six GCC countries".
The last day of the event began with a discussion by Mr. Ramiz Al Assar, Resident Adviser at World Bank and Secretariat General of the GCC, Saudi Arabia, on the harmonisation and interoperability of the GCC Railway, and the progress made in this regard. The conference continued with discussions on the harmonisation of cross-border transport, where Mr. Cesare Brand, Secretary General of CIT, focused on the procedures at the level of railway companies to facilitate cross-border operations. Following him was Mr. Hans-Günther Kersten, Director of the UIC Freight Department, who talked about the UIC activities that are aiming to harmonise rail freight operations. For his part, Mr. Richard Plokhaar, Stakeholder Management and Emergency Services Director at DB International shed more light on the challenges and possible solutions of interoperability customs and immigration.
More than 100 industry leaders attended the two-day event, with a common aim to tackle all interoperability issues that are shaping the technical, operational, legal and regulatory fields in the railway sector in our region.
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© Press Release 2015
