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Rail Transport

Introduction

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The Working Party on Rail Transport (SC.2) is an intergovernmental body which provides a pan-European forum for exchange of technical, legal and policy information and best practices in international rail transport.
The objective is to promote rail transport in UNECE member countries and to ensure its economic efficiency and environmental sustainability (more).

In focus

Railway cargo

Cargo carriage by rail between Europe and Asia will be made easier, quicker and thus cheaper thanks to the adoption of a new United Nations Convention unifying applicable legal rules. The new Convention on the Contract for International Carriage of Goods by Rail has been adopted and is now open for signature. More information available here.

New rules to facilitate financing and acquisition of railway rolling stock
New rules to facilitate financing and acquisition of railway rolling stock

UNECE’s Inland Transport Committee (ITC) adopted the Model Rules on the Permanent Identification of Railway Rolling Stock at its 85th session in February 2023, which will facilitate the financing and acquisition of railway rolling stock leading to a reduced cost for those wishing to invest in the railways, and provide certainty to financial institutions that assets that they have invested in are registered correctly and identifiable through specific markings. More information here.

Highlights

February 2020

As part of the ongoing activities of the Working Party on Rail Transport (SC.2) a workshop titled “Making rail freight more competitive: The coordinated development of the rail network with a focus on how to work together at the government and sectoral levels on the EATL” was held at the seventy-third session of the Working Party. A summary publication is available here.

November 2019

The 73rd session of the Working Party on Rail Transport was held in the Palais des Nations. More information available here.

October 2019

The draft programme for the 2019 workshop: “Making rail freight more competitive: The coordinated development of the rail network with a focus on how to work together at the government and sectoral levels on the EATL” is now available.

February 2019

As part of the ongoing activities of the Working Party on Rail Transport (SC.2) a workshop titled “Making the railways of the future for the region” was held at the seventy-second session of the Working Party. A summary publication has been published here.

Recent Events

13 - 15 November

Palais des Nations, Salle XXIV Geneva Switzerland

08 - 10 July

Palais des Nations, Room XXVII Geneva Switzerland

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