Technical Solutions for the Operational Railway

A train arriving at a station seems the most natural thing in the world. Nevertheless, this daily event requires a plethora of complex, multidimensional technical solutions to all line up so it can happen in the right place, at the right time and safely.

When we think about railways, the image that comes to mind is that of a system of systems. Indeed, operating all the services associated with railway transport requires the combination of numerous different technologies, ranging from the rails themselves, to the trains, through to the sale and management of tickets – not forgetting the telecommunications and signalling systems in all their complexity.

When UIC was founded in 1921, it seemed natural to entrust the definition and development of the railway system to a global association of railway companies. This led to the development of a broad-ranging suite of descriptive voluntary sector standards known as ‘UIC leaflets’.

Right from the moment when the first leaflet was published in 1928, they quickly became the benchmark for operational solutions and have long served as the foundation on which much of the railway system of today has been designed and constructed and continues to be operated and maintained.