UIC Launches The UIC Rail Academy In Order To Better Meet The Needs Of Its Members In All Regions

The Academy is being set up through a strategic partnership with Wray Castle; the first programme is being launched today, dedicated to telecoms

The Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (UIC), the worldwide rail organisation, has  Launched its UIC Rail Academy.

On this occasion, François Davenne, UIC Director General, underlined this important step taken by the UIC, for the benefit of the sector as a whole, specifying that this Academy is part of the association’s strategic objectives for the period 2023-2025: “There is a need to rethink learning strategies to develop the skills of staff and to attract the talent of the future. A flexible, well-trained and motivated workforce is key to a competitive and innovative sector. To this end, several types of training will be proposed with the establishment of a UIC Rail Academy. This objective is to quickly offer the rail sector an express route to upskill staff, enabling them to confidently face the challenges ahead. In this way, UIC wishes to extend the rail sector’s capacity for innovation and improve the sector’s competitiveness by making full use of the knowhow of its rail experts. UIC will go on supporting regional training centres and create synergies between them in order to meet the specific needs of members in the regions within a common framework”.

This Academy is set up in partnership with the leading provider of telecoms technology training solutions, Wray Castle. At UIC, this ambitious project is being led by Jean-Michel Evanghelou, Director Telecom, Signalling & Digital Applications, Meryem Belhaj-Clot, Deputy HR Director and Head of Talent & Expertise development, Charles Rosseel, Head of Transversal projects.

UIC and Wray Castle will collaborate to develop the UIC Rail Academy featuring a suite of specialists training solutions.

Launch of the Telecom part at the UIC FRMCS conference

With the introduction of FRMCS, a technology based upon the latest 5G technologies, the international rail industry faces a period of transition from the existing GSM-R technology first introduced in 2000. The partnership is designed to build knowledge and upskill experienced engineers as well as those new to rail radio engineering and associated industries.

The partnership will provide those within the railway industry the opportunity to benefit from the following learning programmes:

• FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System) – Developed in partnership with the UIC, the new course explores the latest developments in the specification for FRMCS.
• Legacy Rail Radio Engineering Courses – Ensuring participants understand existing technologies including GSM-R.
• Foundation telecom training courses – enabling participants to get up to speed with the foundation of telecom technologies.

Jean-Michel Evanghelou, Director Telecom, Signalling & Digital Applications at UIC said: ”In working with Wray Castle, we have a partner who understands both our existing GSM-R technology and the latest 5G technology that UIC members need to understand to ensure a smooth and successful deployment of FRMCS.  UIC’s ambition is for the first FRMCS test networks to go live in 2026 and this partnership fulfils UIC’s role to facilitate the realisation of this ambition by delivering effective training programmes, available now, to help member organisations upskill their workforce.”

Andrew White, Group CEO of Wray Castle said “With over 60 years’ experience, Wray Castle is regarded as the gold standard in technical training within the global telecoms’ world. During a technology transition as significant as GSM-R to FRMCS, it’s critical to fully understand the existing GSM-R system as well as the new 5G technology upon which FRMCS is based. We are committed to working together, in partnership with UIC and its members to realise UIC’s ambitions.”

The UIC will communicate new training programmes as they become available.