The 11th meeting of the UIC Covid-19 Task Force was attended remotely on 25 August by around 45 participants from across the globe.
Marc Guigon, Chair of the Task Force, welcomed the participants and gave an update on the global situation, the latest figures related to the Task Force members, the latest RAILsilience guidance documents and future publications.
A series of interesting presentations were then delivered by representatives from JR East (Paris Office), the Federal Railroad Administration (US), UIC Pacific (Australia) and Israel Railways.
The key themes of the presentations included:
- Recommendations, gaining customer trust and economic impact
- Response to the pandemic, impact on industry and enforcement
- Impact on public transport, communication and maintaining services
- Improving infrastructure and resumption of passenger rail services
A brainstorming session was held during the meeting on the “Roadmap to a New Normal for Railways and Mobility”, during which members were asked to share their views with regard to the near-term outlook in the context of the pandemic and the new normal.
Remarks included the need for cross-border convergence and clarity to facilitate operating conditions, the need for the industry and transport providers to reassure customers and the issue of sustainability.
Concluding words were given by Marc Guigon, who gave summarised the meeting and explained the next steps which will involve a new questionnaire on the financial impact of Covid-19 as well as further reflection on what the new normal will mean for the transport sector.
All guidance documents can be consulted on UIC’s dedicated Covid-19 webpage, which is regularly updated with the latest video, news articles, webinars and other audiovisual material: https://uic.org/covid-19
As a reminder, the Task Force LinkedIn group is open to members. Feel free to join the group and share your thoughts: https://lnkd.in/eEKqfW2
The next Task Force web-conference is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 22 September 2020.
