300 people from 47 different countries around the world participated in the conference, which was streamed live at UTN-BA in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and at other locations worldwide.
We had a great variety of English, Spanish, and French-speaking presenters from the road and the rail sector, representing international organisations and institutions in the USA (AAR, Operation Lifesaver inc.), Argentina (UTN-BA, OPERADORA FERROVIARIA S.A.), Uruguay (AFE), Morocco (ONCF), South Africa (RSR) Belgium (DG Move, INFRABEL), France (SNCF, VALEO), Spain (AESF), and UK (Network Rail, RSSB).
Mr François Davenne, UIC Director General, and Mr Allan Spence, Director of Regulator Liaison, Network Rail, and Chair of the UIC Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN), kicked off the conference.
- Allan Spence said: “Today would have been a very proud day for me in hosting as many people as could reach us in person in the fabulous city of York and in particular the events’ location which was to be at the National Railway Museum, the spiritual home of railways worldwide. Sadly, last year and this year we were unable to get people together across the national boundaries because of the global pandemic, that means that we are not able to make the most of the social gatherings which would have been organised under the egis of UIC and Network Rail but it does mean that we perhaps reach more people by being able to hold this event online with 300 attendees from 47 countries around the world.”
- François Davenne highlighted the various activities in relation to level crossings, carried out by almost 50 countries marking ILCAD today. He said: “Because safety is at the heart of our rail activity, the UIC and the rail community shall spread level crossing safety awareness messages more than ever on June 10. The level crossing safety is not only a national topic but a global one, which is why the UIC, must tackle this issue on a worldwide level. In addition, this interface between the road and rail should not be a concern only for the rail only but also for the road sector.”
- Mr Robert Wainwright, Head of Level Crossing Safety at Network Rail, gave an introduction on level crossings and level crossing management in Britain and outlined Network Rail’s strategy for enhancing level crossing safety in Britain. He also explained this year’s ILCAD campaign theme: distraction . He highlighted why it is important for us to remind level crossing users of the importance of not being distracted at level crossings. After all, distraction kills !
ILCAD 2021 video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioxkF0dU-tw&t=1s
- Dr Ann Mills, Head of Health, Safety, and Wellbeing at RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board), presented the sources and types of distraction and the impact they have on car drivers, pedestrians, and level crossing users before proposing a human-centred approach to improving level crossing user performance.
Session 1 was then dedicated to road/rail interaction
- First, Mr Jean Todt, President of FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) and UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, delivered a video safety message:
-
- Continue reading