The “International Railway Safety Council” (IRSC) provides a platform for rail safety professionals to come together to share their knowledge and experiences in a global forum.
In 2016 this conference was co-chaired by Frédéric Delorme, SNCF Executive Officer for Safety and Florence Rousse, Executive Director of EPSF, the French National Safety Authority.
Key note speakers in the opening ceremony were:
- Alain Vidalies: French Secretary of State in charge of Transport
- Florence Rousse: Executive Director of EPSF
- Jean-Pierre Loubinoux: UIC Director General
- Guillaume Pepy: CEO of SNCF Mobility and President of SNCF
- Frédéric Delorme: SNCF Safety General Director
Violetta Bulc from the European Commission sent a video clip with a special message to this conference.
In this opening session Jean-Pierre Loubinoux highlighted UIC as a worldwide association of cooperation for railway companies and especially mentioned the activities in the field of railway safety which could be explored by IRSC participants through direct or indirect contact with UIC working bodies.
Around 220 participants from 23 countries attended this world-wide railway safety event. There were representatives from railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, safety regulators, railway accident investigation agencies, railway trade unions, equipment manufacturers and research institutes.
UIC was present with an exhibition stand; Peter Gerhardt, Manager of the UIC Safety Unit acted as a session leader.
The banner theme for the IRSC 2016 was “Railway safety, facing the challenges of tomorrow’s society”. Presentations and discussions were submitted under the following core themes:
- Safe traffic management in high density areas
- Availability of components and maintaining the safety of the rail system
- Safety taken into consideration as a key input for the management of passenger flows
- The transport of the future and the imperatives of safety
- Safely managing crisis
The 27th IRSC will take place from 22 – 27 October 2017 in Hong Kong.
