Workshop on safe loading October 2011

About 60 participants attended the UIC seminar on the issues around the safe loading of concentrated goods on October 12th 2011, from 09.00 am to 4pm, at UIC Headquarters, Rue Jean Rey 16, F 75015 Paris.

The seminar was chaired by Ferdinand SCHMIDT, Chairman of the UIC Freight Forum and Jean Michel RICHARD, Chairman of the UIC Safety Platform and was briefly introduced by railway experts, followed by a succession of focused workshops led by representatives from all the categories of actors involved (see detailed programme and presentations).

The seminar concluded on the next steps to be taken by all the actors in order to maintain and even improve the high level of safety of the transport of concentrated goods by rail (see text attached).

Words of the UIC Safety Platform Chairman, Jean-Michel RICHARD (SNCF) : « 

• Railways are a reliable transport mode, but this is only ensured through constant and unwavering attention on the part of all players, including customers/shippers to keep a watch over all potentially dangerous situations. Safe loading is one of the top priorities for all the parties involved, be it manufacturers, combined transport operators or railway undertakings. It must remain a top priority despite increasingly complex interfaces.

• Every player must assume their responsibilities under clear conditions : COTIF COTIF Convention Internationale sur le transport international ferroviaire (in the appendices CIM and RID which oblige RUs to provide consignors/shippers with the loading guidelines on the basis of their contractual relationship) and article 4§4 of Safety Directive 2004/49 provide the regulatory framework and the contractual relationship is established in the GCs of sale agreed on by an RU and a consignor/shipper (UIC leaflets may be used as references ; they thus become rules for standard practices).

The rail sector’s assets :

• The loading guidelines, drafted by UIC on the basis of past experience, constitute an extremely valuable intangible asset which is shared with all players (in the form of UIC leaflets, de facto considered rules for standard practices). However we must remain vigilant so as not to render them too opaque for members of staff in the field.

• There is no need to add further regulations ; the existing ones simply need to be applied carefully and on a day-to-day basis – that is easier said than done ! Needless to remind you of the importance of reporting to ensure progress and an efficient quality control process of the loading carried out by customers/shippers.

In the field of loading as in many other fields, the devil is in the details. Recent accidents have shown that nothing should be taken for granted ; I am referring in particular to two recent accidents which occurred consecutively : * insufficient fastenings for heavy loads that were not visible to RU members of staff, * poor immobilisation of the mobile parts of shunting engines by “unseasoned” customers.

I would also like to point out the need to take into account the free surface effect in tanks which are not completely full ; this was the cause of two DG wagon derailments which could have had disastrous consequences. Before considering relaxing a restriction on loading, one must understand the reason behind it, the context in which it was introduced and whether that context has changed ; in substance this amounts to implementing a “common safety method” (CSM CSM Common Safety Methods ) procedure.

Potential for progress : - Technological developments by infrastructure managers at an accessible cost enable better management of risks involving loads (detection of load imbalance, overload, load displacement), including risks which could affect other traffic. Their implementation is to be looked into. - Training for the members of staff of customers/shippers in charge of loading must be of high quality, subject to regular inspections/checks and informative as to the dangers to railway operations caused by poor loading – as it should be for railway members of staff in charge of checking whether the consignments are suitable for transport. Only at this cost can we maintain or even improve the quality of our services to customers, in which safety is a key element. Thank you for your attention. »

 Programme

Please see below the programme

English version

Version française

Deutsche Version

 Presentations

Presentations in English

Presentations in French

Presentations in German

 Proceedings

Conclusions in French

conclusions in English

Conclusions in German

 List of participants

List of participants

 Contact :

Isabelle FONVERNE Projects Officer, Interoperability and Safety fonverne@uic.org