UN Adopts a New Global Standard for Permanent Marking of Railway Equipment

 The Inland Transport Committee (ITC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe adopted Model Rules on the Permanent Identification of Railway Rolling Stock last Friday in Geneva. These rules create a new voluntary standard and responsibilities for permanently attaching an URVIS (Unique Rail Vehicle Identification System) identifier to railway rolling stock, as required by the Luxembourg Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on Mobile Equipment (the Luxembourg Rail Protocol), which is expected to come into force later this year. 

The Model Rules are the 60th legal instrument and global standard established by the ITC. They will play an important role in facilitating more secure and cheaper financing of all types of railway rolling stock once the Luxembourg Rail Protocol applies. The Protocol establishes a new public international registry based in Luxembourg, at which the security interests of banks and lessors will be registered against the URVIS identifier issued by the registry. 

The adoption of these rules follows the ratification last month by Spain of the Luxembourg Rail Protocol. This 4th ratification, plus that of the European Union, has opened the way for completion of the technical work needed to establish the international registry.

“These Model Rules are an important step forward because they deal with a critical requirement of the Luxembourg Rail Protocol, which will reduce risk for private sector lenders and lessors providing finance for the rail sector, in turn lowering financing costs for the rail industry” commented Howard Rosen, Chairman of the Rail Working Group. “The rules are voluntary but will need to be implemented by creditors and rail operators wishing to take advantage of the benefits of the Protocol. They will also be important for facilitating seamless cross-border operation of rolling stock around the world, at a time when the environment needs railways more than ever,” he added.