Krzysztof Mamiński, President of the Management Board of PKP S.A. and chairman of the International Union of Railways (UIC) attended the March 7-10 11th World Congress on High Speed Rail, organized in Marrakesh, Morocco. Participation in the Congress was a great opportunity for bilateral meetings, exchange of views and discussions about cooperation. During the Congress, Krzysztof Mamiński met, among others, with Kim Han Young, president and CEO of Korea National Railway, Stephen Gardner, head of the American company Amtrak, Mohammed Rabie Khlie, general director of ONCF and Polish Ambassador to Morocco, discussing, among other things, investment opportunities for Polish business in Africa. Krzysztof Mamiński also chaired an additional meeting of railway chiefs on the future of high-speed railways in the world and cooperation on common standards.

Below opening speech of Mr. Mamiński:

Opening of the Congress: Mr Krzysztof MAMIŃSKI, PKP CEO & UIC Chairman

Dear Honorable Guests, dear Colleagues and Friends,
welcome to the 11th UIC World High Speed Congress - the biggest UIC event, with more than 1500 delegates coming from over the world.

The congress is organized in Africa, in beautiful city of Marrakesh, in Morocco – the country which is indeed the spearhead of the railway dynamic that can be observed throughout the continent. New transport infrastructures in Morocco testify to this vitality, desired and accompanied by the African Union in its vision 2063, for "an increasingly integrated and united continent". One of the flagship projects of this vision is indeed the development of an integrated high-speed network. It aims to connect all African capitals and commercial centres through an African high-speed rail network, thus facilitating the movement of goods, factor services and people. Increased rail connectivity also aims to reduce transport costs and ease congestion on existing and future systems. UIC fully supports this vision.

The potential of high-speed rail solutions adapted to the growth of sustainable mobility on a global scale has no limit. We are meeting here because we all believe that we need more rail and more high-speed connections around the world. The motto of the 11th HS World congress is: “High Speed Rail: The right speed for our planet?”.
The main objectives of the congress and our common task is:

• to answer the congress moto question,
• to take knowledge of the latest progress in all fields related to HSR,
• to imagine together the future of high-speed mobility,

As Chairman of the UIC, I am personally very happy to be here with you today. High-speed rail is developing very dynamically: the pandemic did not prevent the expansion of high-speed railways with their total length going from 44,000km in 2020 to approximately 59,000km in 2022, an increase of over 1/3. Moreover, the number of countries making use of high-speed railways is only increasing, as additional countries are in the process of developing projects. The plans of Europe, Asian countries, Africa, North America, Middle East as well as my country, Poland, show that this is a growing trend, which is absolutely the right direction!

The challenges facing us today are global: new sustainable mobility systems, decarbonization of economy at the national, local and supranational level; a new economic situation and political challenges that requires new activities and transport solutions against climate change. It is possible to deal with them positively and effectively. Many of us develop proposals and ideas to solve them. Despite the fact that HSR may be considered remote for some countries, HSR is beginning to respond to many global challenges. By working together, we can achieve more and faster.

Railways needs to be visible and this congress is, among other actions, the concrete embodiment of the UIC's vocation: to make the world's railways cooperate together. To find together and united the best solutions for the mobility of tomorrow. The mobility of 2030 which is taking shape today. With the involvement of every player in the transport chain. In a world railway community united within the UIC and driven by the values of unity, solidarity and universality. In a world torn by incomprehensible territorial political ambitions and afflicted by natural disasters. At this point, I express my support for peace in Ukraine and words of support for Turkey affected by the earthquake. The new 2023-2025 work programme, which has just been published is thus the guidelines for all the actions to be carried out, so that rail can really play a central role in the decarbonisation of the transport sector on a global and regional scale.

On behalf of UIC I want to thank all sponsors of the UIC Congress, mainly to Korean National Railways, Alstom, Huawei company and all other companies important for HS development. Thank you for your support.

My special thanks go to my colleague Mr Mohammed Khlie - Director General of ONCF, Vice Chairman of UIC. Thank you for hosting and organising this congress with his team and UIC.
I also thank Mr. Davenne and the entire UIC team for this wonderful event, which is important in the UIC's 2023 agenda.

The HS Congress has been successfully convened for ten times since its first edition in 1992, and now is renowned worldwide as the most prominent and a large-scale global event on high–speed rail addressing both HSR operation and technology issues. I am convinced that thanks to your present the 11 UIC World Congress on high speed will also be a success of all of us, too.

I hereby announce the opening of the ceremony. I wish all of you many fruitful discussions, new concepts and a very successful 11th Edition of the Congress.

Thank you very much!

UIC Work programme
2023-2025

Apply ecosystem-services thinking and science to the land management techniques used in the railways, and the habitats and associated services provided on the railway land.

Develop a decision-making tool

• Acronym: ECOV4R
• Ecosystem Valuation for Railways
• Project Director: Lucie Anderton
• Project Manager: Pinar Yilmazer
• Status: Ongoing project

For the first time since the Paris agreement, an important step was taken as a result of United Nations (UN) Climate Conference (COP26) and the Biodiversity Conference, with a commitment to pave the way to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. With the Glasgow Climate Pact, forged at COP26, more than 130 countries recognise the importance of forests and biodiversity and promised to work collectively to land degradation.

There is a growing understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society, whether they might be:

• cultural services such as recreation;
• regulating services, such as regulation of water flows;
• provisioning services such as raw materials or food;
• supporting services such as pollination.

Any degradation of these ecosystem services has a social and economic cost, and there is a maturing science around quantifying and monetising that value. The railways enjoy a variety of ecosystems services from within their boundary as well as outside, all helping to support the safe and efficient running of trains. Additionally, ecosystems on railway land provide value to the wider society and the communities they serve. The main ecosystem services provided by the railway habitats are usually regulatory or cultural, they include:

• Climate regulation: carbon sequestration from trees, vegetation, and soils but also micro-climatic cooling effects, especially important in urban areas;
• Water regulation: lineside vegetation and natural ditches providing natural drainage, slowing the flow of surface water and therefore reducing the risk to impacts on the train operations;
• Erosion prevention: Lineside vegetation providing earthworks stabilisation preventing soil wash out and landslips;
• Aesthetics: visual screening and landscape enhancement from lineside vegetation providing benefit to lineside neighbours and passengers;
• Security benefit through boundary reinforcement from hedgerow and boundary trees or other boundary vegetation;
• Supporting services: habitat for pollinators and important rare species on lineside spaces and production of biomass;
• Cultural Services and social engagement: recreation and provision of food in case of agricultural, horticultural use or grazing of embankments as well as partnership with local farmers and authorities for eco-friendly solutions.

Through better understanding the services that ecosystems provide, railways can improve the management of their biodiversity assets. Biodiversity assets can be mapped, valued and plans can be put in place to enhance their value and protect their capacity to provide their services. This approach is helpful for improving sustainable land use practices in the transport sector. Precise requirements for efficient land use and its management have been established as outlined in Goal 11 and Goal 15 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The practice of ecosystem services valuation is gaining more interest as a decision-making tool.

Large infrastructure projects can come with high environmental and social costs, including biodiversity loss, deforestation, CO2 emissions and social disruption. UIC together with its members recognise that railways can provide and benefit from a wide variety of services from lineside habitats and therefore aim to design in well-managed, multi-functional lands as part of new infrastructure.

In this project, UIC Sustainable Land Use sector members will apply ecosystem services thinking and science to the land management techniques used in the railways, and the habitats and associated services provided on the railway land.

• Improved industry understanding of the application of ecosystems services thinking in railways and infrastructure management and projects;
• Improved understanding of the value of ecosystems found on railway land and therefore enabling the business case to be made for investment in green infrastructure and nature-based solutions for both, climate protection and adaptation to climate change;
• A harmonised and comprehensive framework for ecosystem services valuation for effective and efficient land use management for UIC members;
• Recommendations to improve land use management plans that bring about enhancement in the ecosystem services from vegetation, water, soil and air quality;
• Enable the valuation of the ecosystem services from railway land before and after infrastructure projects and define the best suitable ecological compensation methods;
• Exchange information from various case studies for shared learning and capacity building.

The study and developed framework can be used by the global rail sector, but analyses will only be made on selected sites of project participants.

• Integrate the ecosystem services approach with the scientific-evidence-based analyses to improve land management of railways;
• Make the case for investment in green infrastructure and nature-based solutions on the railways for both, climate protection and adaptation to climate change ;
• Prioritise cost efficient measures for the greatest value.

Challenges and achievements are all part of life and as the year passes, I wish you tremendous success in the year ahead. I would also like ti take this opportunity to thank all of you for your outstanding contributions this year.

Happy new year to you and your families!

On September 21, 2022, during the InnoTrans fair in Berlin, a meeting was held between UIC Chairman Krzysztof Mamiński and Hasan PEZÜK, President of the UIC Middle East Region. The meeting was also attended by Marc Guigon - UIC Coordinator for the Middle East Region and Tomasz Lachowicz - UIC Chairman's Office. The purpose of the meeting was to get acquainted with the situation of the railways in the Middle East, learn about the priorities and expectations of the UIC organization and discuss plans for the development of freight corridors between Turkey and the EU.

The UIC Chairman underlined the importance of Turkish Railways achievements, including investments in infrastructure, commitment in the passenger and freight transport, and corridor initiatives. He noted that the above activities have a great impact on the development of the entire Middle East region and help to develop better connections with other regions of the world. At the same time, the Chairman emphasized good cooperation between parties, which is based on common, rich experience.

Visit TWINNING II website:
https://twinning2.eu

• Project website: https://twinning2.eu
• Acronym: TWINNING II
• Status: ongoing project

TWINNING II aims at the improvement of the safety culture in the European rail sector.

This project provides method for identifying strengths and areas for improvement of safety culture, so that each RU/IM of it is assisted in the enhancement of its safety culture.

The TWINNING II project delivers methods, recommendations and suggestions for improvement in areas where performance falls short of European and aligned international practice;

TWINNING II concentrates on practical experience with other specialists in safety culture, and between the members of the consortium.

• Development of safety awareness/culture/commitment within organizations, with special focus on training activities, identification and management of blocking points for the development of a safety culture
• Identification and exchanges on technical failures and behavioral variabilities related to operational activities that may be critical for safety
• Share of strategies and techniques for effective occurrence reporting, analysis of incident and accident data, occurrence reporting and identification of their benefits
• Sharing knowledge on safety systems, processes, tools and behaviors
• Cross-border integration of safety processes used in different countries
• Peer review exercises, including the training activities for a homogeneous and high-level approach, actions aimed to produce useful guidelines on peer review

• Project title: CEF PSA UBS ACTION
• Full title: Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Programme Support Action (PSA) Unified Braking Scheme (UBS) "UBS Action : solving priority 1 of the Log Book issue and implementing the Unified Braking Scheme (UBS) as a pilot project along the Rhine-Alpine Corridor with the aim of transferring knowledge gained across the TEN-T rail network"
• Project start date: 01/01/2020
• Project end date: 31/12/2023
• Grant agreement No: MOVE/C4/SUB/CEF/PSA/2020-62/SI2.83263

This Programme Support Action aims at improving rail interoperability with a view to achieve rail breakthroughs supporting TEN-T infrastructure policy through supporting the actions aiming at solving the issues of the Log Book that hinder international rail freight the most.

• DB Cargo AG (Railway Undertaking) – Coordinator
• DB Cargo Nederland (Railway Undertaking) – Affiliated Entity
• DB Cargo Italia (Railway Undertaking) – Affiliated Entity
• UIC - Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (Rail Associations)
• EEIG Corridor Rhine-Alpine EWIV (Rail Freight Corridor)
• EBA - Eisenbahn-Bundesamt (National Safety Authority)
• DB Netz (Infrastructure manager)