On 15 October the UIC Security Division organised a meeting in Warsaw with Frontex, VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) as coordinator of Bodega and CEIS as manager of the Advisory Board. This meeting concerning the European Bodega project on “Proactive enhancement of human performance in border control” was really fruitful and interesting with regard to potential future collaboration with Frontex.

The meeting was the occasion for the coordinator of Bodega to present the objectives of the project, the various possibilities of field studies in air, maritime, rail and road and also to present the expected results and the reasons why an active cooperation with FRONTEX would be of high value for the project.

It was the opportunity for UIC by representing its members to underline the importance of saving time at border crossing in the rail sector.

Until the official confirmation of the level of participation of Frontex within the Bodega project, as professional and operational support for the technical questions, we discussed the possibility to have access to experts at border control points and their contribution for professional points of view. It was also suggested that Frontex should become a member of the Bodega advisory board.

The meeting finally concluded on a positive note and offered several opportunities for collaboration between Bodega’s consortium and Frontex.

The Bodega project will contribute to the implementation of the Smart Border Initiative and the future regulation regarding Organisational and Human Factors. The improvement of the efficiency of border control points will reduce difficulties, delays and time spent when crossing border control. It will both facilitate the flow of travellers and speed up border crossing for them. Finally, it will improve the border control process and will have a positive impact on the attractiveness and efficiency of the railways, as well as its image competitiveness.