During the last SMGG meetings, members decided to regularly arrange remote meetings to monitor ongoing activities. This is an ongoing procedure which will be extended beyond the Covid-19 crisis.
For the first meeting, around 20 people took part. On this occasion, two topics were on the agenda: the current Covid-19 crisis management for station managers (+ station recovering plans). The second item concerned the reorganisation of the SMGG sector.
Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, the main challenge is about the recovery plan for the reopening of stations. In order to be as ready as possible, SMGG members decided to organise a weekly meeting every Monday (from 2:30 pm to 3:15 pm Paris local time). UIC offers an online meeting room where people can talk and exchange between station managers. The first meeting was held on 27 April 2020. Following this meeting, the minutes will be shared with all the participants and the UIC Task Force Covid-19 to complete the database.
UIC kindly invites you to contact Clément Gautier if you would like take part in this weekly meeting.
Regarding the reorganisation of the UIC station sector, members debated the main challenges one by one. Following every comment, UIC summarised all the expectations and drafted an initial proposal:
1) Station Design Working group:
- Design of the station (architecture and technical design)
- Capacity issues (crowd control, flow management, capacity solutions)
- Standard design (production of IRS)
- Programming
- Sustainability development
- Building information modelling
2) Facility Management and operations Working group:
- Maintenance
- Building management
- Daily management
- Active measurement (sensors and dashboards)
- Asset management
- Passenger Services
- Passenger information system
- Customer facilities
- Digitalisation of existing building
3) Small Station Working group:
- How to deal with small stations?
- Innovative local solutions to diversify the functionalities of small stations
4) Retail and commercial affairs (or solutions) Working group:
- Innovation solution for retail and rent
- Business development
- City services (no rail-related services)
5) Urban development Working Group:
- Planning (i.e. Transit-Oriented Development)
- Neighbourhood development
- Real estate management
- Stations as mobility hubs
- Intermodality and multimodality
- Soft mobility
- Car parking
- Public and common space
Expert network: Inclusive Station
The Network of Experts is different to Working Groups. A network is used to exchange data, information, questions during web calls or on the UIC extranet discussion platform.
This proposal will be introduced to the Global Passenger Forum Steering Committee on 30 April 2020 before the Global Passenger Forum Plenary Meeting on 9 July 2020. If the reorganisation is approved by members, UIC will organise Working Groups Chair call and experts call the second part of 2020 for an application on 1 January 2021.
The next SMGG meeting initially planned at Berlin is postponed to December (in accordance with health recommendations) and replaced by an online meeting on 3 June 2020.
