International Union of Railways

The International Union of Railways (French: Union internationale des chemins de fer, UIC) is an international rail transport industry body based in Paris.^[2]

International Union of Railways

Union internationale des chemins de fer
UIC membership:   At least one active member   At least one affiliate member   At least one associate member   Suspended members
Abbreviation	UIC
Formation	17 October 1922; 102 years ago (1922-10-17)
Legal status	Active
Purpose	Promote rail transport at world level Meet the challenges of mobility and sustainable development
Headquarters	16 Rue Jean Rey Paris, France
Membership	223 (2024)
Chairman	Dr Alan Beroud (PKP)[1]
Vice Chairman	Mohamed Rabie Khlie (ONCF)[1]
Director General	François Davenne (UIC)[1]
Coordinator	Karine Van Ceunebroeck[1]
Website	uic.org

History

The railways of Europe had originated during the nineteenth century as many separate concerns across numerous nations; this led to disparate and conflicting standards emerging and thus onto incompatibility. One prominent example was the British Gauge War, during which different railway companies were laying different track gauges across Great Britain, causing inefficiency wherever a break of gauge occurred, prior to an Act of Parliament the issue in 1846 by establishing one standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm).^[3][4] The early effort towards standardisation somewhat influenced railways aboard as well, however various other track gauges persisted and developed across the world; even through to the twenty first century, incompatible track gauges, let alone other issues, persisted to hinder interoperability efforts.^[5][6][7][8]

Several key events happened during the early twentieth century; in the aftermath of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles, numerous border changes were enacted across Europe, which greatly impacted several formerly united national railway networks while compelling several others together in some cases. It was early into the interwar period that the UIC was established on 17 October 1922 with the principal aim of standardising practices across the railway industry and expanding international cooperation in the sector.^[9]

The UIC has introduced numerous classification systems over the decades. During the 1970s, the UIC Franc currency equivalent was established for the purpose of easing international ticket revenue sharing;^[10] it was replaced by the European Currency Unit on 1 January 1990.^[11] UIC classification and UIC Country Codes allowed precise determination of rolling stock capabilities and ownership;^[12][13] furthermore, wagons have been assigned their own unique UIC wagon numbers.^[14][15]

Over time, the UIC has formed various partnerships and cooperative frameworks with other multinational railway authorities, such as the European Union Agency for Railways.^[16] The UIC has played a leading role in the development of Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs), which have gradually taken over from older standards developed by various national railway entities.^[17][18][19]

During the 1990s, the GSM-R radio telecommunication system was formulated as an international interoperability specification covering voice and signalling systems for railway communications.^[20][21] GSM-R, which is built on GSM technology, was designed to be a cost efficient digital replacement for various existing incompatible in-track cable and analogue railway radio networks.^[22][23] The specification for GSM-R is maintained via the UIC project European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). By June 2023, GSM-R had been implemented across roughly 130,000km of track, along with 90,000 cab radios and 20,000 datalink radio units.^[24]

A more capable next-generation radio, the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) program, is under development as of 2023.^[25][24] In addition to eventually replacing GSM-R, it will provide new capabilities that require more rapid data exchange, such as live video transmission.^[26][24]

Mission

The UIC's mission is "to promote rail transport at world level and meet the challenges of mobility and sustainable development."^[27]

Objectives

The UIC's main objectives^[27] are to:

• Facilitate the sharing of best practices among members (benchmarking)
• Support members in their efforts to develop new business and new areas of activities
• Propose new ways to improve technical and environmental performance
• Promote interoperability, create new world standards for railways (including common standards with other transport modes)
• Develop centres of competence (High Speed, Safety, Security, e-Business, ...)

Members

When founded in 1922 the UIC had 51 members from 29 countries, including Japan and China. They were soon^[when?] joined by members from the Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa.^[specify] As of July 2025, the UIC has 219 members (include suspended)^[28] across five continents.^[27] Of these there are:

• 62 active members (48 in Europe, 9 in Asia-Pacific, 7 in Middle East and one in Africa):

1. ÖBB
2. Infrabel and SNCB
3. ŽFBH
4. BDZ and NRIC
5. CR and NRA
6. HŽ Infrastruktura
7. ČD and SŽ
8. DSB
9. FTIA
10. SNCF
11. DB
12. Hellenic Train and OSE
13. Gysev/Raaberbahn and MÁV
14. Indian Railways
15. RAI
16. IRR
17. CIÉ
18. Israel Railways
19. FS
20. JR East
21. KTZ
22. Korail and KNR
23. LDZ
24. LTG
25. UBTZ
26. ONCF
27. NS and ProRail
28. Bane NOR
29. PKP
30. CP and IP SA
31. CFR Călători, CFR Marfă and CFR SA
32. SAR
33. IŽS
34. ŽSR, ZSSK and ZSSK Cargo
35. SŽ
36. Adif and Renfe
37. Green Cargo, SJ and Trafikverket
38. BLS and SBB CFF FFS
39. CFS
40. THSRC
41. TCDD and TCDDT
42. UZ
43. Eurostar I and Network Rail

• 81 affiliate members (37 in Europe, 24 in Asia-Pacific, 6 in Africa, 5 in Middle East, 5 in Latin America and 4 in North America):

1. ANESRIF
2. ALAF and JST [es]
3. HSRA, NTC, NTRO, TFNSW, Queensland TMR, Victoria DOTP and WA PTA
4. BR ICS and Ubimet
5. AERRL and BCC
6. ANPTrilhos [pt] and ANTF
7. RAC and TC
8. BJTU, CARS, CRDC [zh], CRECC, CRRC SRI [zh], CRRC ZIC [zh], CRSCD, SWJTU and Tongji University
9. ANi
10. Ermewa, Europe Express, Lisea, Région Grand Est, Systra and TELT
11. BSB [de], Deutschlandtarif [de] and OPTIMA-TOURS
12. ÉKM [hu], Foxrail [hu] and KTI Nonprofit Kft
13. NCRTC and NHSRCL
14. Isfahan Kafriz
15. Italo
16. JR RTRI
17. ARC and JHR
18. KRRI
19. RB Rail
20. RAC
21. Eurail and Hitrail
22. COGEFER
23. Entur and Norske Tog
24. DOTr
25. IK
26. Medway
27. TGA
28. CFS [fr] and SENTER
29. Eurorail Logistics and ŽS
30. RSR and TUT
31. FCH and FFE [es]
32. Jernhusen
33. Alliance Swisspass [de]
34. DRT [th] and RTRDA
35. MOEI
36. ATOC, BCRRE, GCRE, Harsco, HS2 Limited, RSSB and Stena Line
37. AAR and FRA

• 60 associate members (29 in Europe, 13 in Africa, 10 in Asia-Pacific, 3 in Middle East, 3 in North America and 2 in Latin America):

1. ARA [de]^[29]
2. FASE
3. SCR
4. Sydney Trains
5. GKB [de] and WLC
6. ADY
7. Lineas and THI Factory
8. ŽRS
9. BRC
10. SOPAFERB
11. Camrail
12. Via Rail
13. EFE
14. SIPF and Sitarail
15. HŽ Cargo and HŽPP
16. Student Agency
17. EDR
18. Getlink
19. Setrag [fr]
20. GR
21. Attica Group
22. GYSEV Cargo
23. Trenord
24. JR Central and JR West
25. KRC
26. Libya Railroads
27. CFL and CFL Cargo
28. KTM
29. SNIM
30. ŽPCG
31. ZRSM Transport and ZRSM Infrastructure
32. Oman Rail
33. PNR
34. CTV, GFR and Unicom
35. SNCS [fr]
36. Srbija Kargo and Srbijavoz
37. ETS, Euskotren, FGC and LFP
38. SRC
39. RHB
40. TRC
41. TRC
42. SNCFT
43. Etihad Rail
44. NI Railways
45. Amtrak and CHSRA
46. VNR

• 16 suspended members:

1. SNTF
2. BCh
3. ONATRA
4. ENR
5. ARTF
6. ARTF
7. MTZ [mn]
8. FPC [ru], MIIT, NIIAS, RZD, RZDstroy and VNIIZHT
9. GTS [fr]
10. SHR
11. SRT

On 12 November 2010, the UIC opened an African regional office in Tunis, Tunisia with the support of SNCFT.^[30]

On 9 March 2022, the UIC suspended all member companies from Russia and Belarus, following Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[31]

Standard terminology

In order to provide a common understanding and reduce potential confusion, the UIC has established standard international railway terminology and a trilingual (English-French-German) thesaurus of terms. The thesaurus was the result of cooperation with the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT/CEMT) and was published in 1995.^[32]

Classification of railway vehicles

Main articles: UIC classification of goods wagons, UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements, UIC classification of railway coaches, UIC identification marking for tractive stock, and UIC wagon numbers

The UIC has established systems for the classification of locomotives and their axle arrangements, coaches and goods wagons.

Some UIC regulations

UIC plays an important role in standardization of railway parts, data and terminology, though the degree to which its standards have been adopted by its members varies. Therefore, UIC codes (also known as UIC leaflet) are developed since the beginning of UIC's work. A new term for these UIC leaflets is used by UIC for better understanding: International Railway Solution (IRS).^[33]

Some UIC codes are:

• UIC 568 The 13-corded standardized connection cable with connector is used to transmit data and commands between the locomotive and the carriages of a passenger train.
• UIC 592-2 Large containers for transport on wagons – Technical conditions to be fulfilled by large containers accepted for use in international traffic. Describes the classes and categories of large containers, handling characteristics, identification markings, and special conditions applying to large tank containers.
• UIC 592-3 Large containers (CT), swap bodies (CM) and transport frames for horizontal transhipment (CA) – Standard report on acceptance tests.
• UIC 592-4 Swap bodies for grab handling and spreader gripping – Technical conditions. Swap bodies are the removable superstructures of road transport vehicles. Their dimensions and some of their fittings are standardised, particularly dimensions, strength parameters and securing devices, of the road vehicle, the wagon and transhipment arrangements (grab-handling grooves, lower securing parts and, in special cases, upper securing parts).
• UIC 596-5 Transport of road vehicles on wagons – Technical organisation – Conveyance of semi-trailers with P coding or N coding on recess wagons. This leaflet sets out regulations and provisions for semi-trailers with normal road transport characteristics for conveyance on fixed-recess carrier wagons. The provisions are valid for semi-trailers, gantry equipment/industrial trucks with grab handles, recess wagon types 1a and 1b in accordance with UIC Leaflet 571–4.
• UIC 596-6 Conveyance of road vehicles on wagons – Technical organisation – Conditions for coding combined-transport load units and combined-transport lines. The leaflet sets out the coding and organisation of loading units in respect of road vehicles on wagons, designed to ensure compatibility of loading units (LU) with the permissible profile for combined transport lines. The provisions aim to facilitate LU identification to speed-up international traffic movements. They are applicable to semi-trailers, swap bodies, roller units loaded on wagons and bogies in combined transport operations.
• FU-7100^[34] Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) User Requirements Specification. Defines a set of technology independent user requirements in the form of individual applications. Each application has been defined to provide or support an identified communications need that is considered necessary for current and future railway operation.

See also

• African Union of Railways, similar organisation focused on Africa
• Association of American Railroads
• Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail
• International Union of Public Transport, (UITP) which covers passenger railways, especially in cities.
• Organization for Cooperation of Railways (OSShD) focused on Eastern Europe and Central Asia
• Community of Metros