SRO takes part in UIC meeting in Paris

Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) participated in the 82nd meeting of the general assembly of the International Union of Railways (UIC) held at its Paris headquarters last week. SRO President Muhammad Al-Suwaiket chaired the delegation of the organization, accompanied by vice president for operations and SRO's representative to the UIC, Abdullah Balhaddad.
At a bilateral meeting attended by Esmat Doman, vice president of Turkey Railways, which currently chairs the Middle East Railway Group, the president of SRO met with Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC director general.
Al-Suwaiket underlined the important role of the UIC in supporting and uniting the efforts of railways’ companies and organizations at global level, exchange of experiences and solutions to some of the common constraints and operational problems through projects and research funded and supported by UIC.
He pointed out the role of the Kingdom in the railway system at the regional and international level through the mega projects carried out by the Kingdom for linking the north to the south and the east with the west and then linking the countries of the GCC and the region. It was also discussed with the UIC director general the SRO's experience in high-speed trains through the Haramain High Speed Rail Project (HHR), one of the fastest trains in the region.
Meanwhile, the UIC has invited SRO to join the group of High Speed Rail Countries to benefit from the experience of the HHR project at the executive and operational level. The director general of UIC praised the role of SRO at the international and regional level in supporting the rail system, which is witnessing great development in the Kingdom, and has requested the SRO to activate and intensify the presence of the SRO in the strategic meetings of the UIC.
Al-Suwaiket also took part in the meeting of the General Assembly with the participation of more than 80 countries and organizations. The audience welcomed the appointment of Al-Suwaiket as president for SRO, and they are looking forward to an active role of SRO in various activities of International Union of Railways.
The meeting focused on the main aspects, including standardization, compatibility in the ways of interoperability and the remaining connecting links between the countries of each group or region. The Middle East group, which includes, in addition to the Kingdom, Qatar, UAE, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, also provided a report on the achievements of the Group during the past six months, including their vision up to 2025.
The group also arranged a number of workshops that will be organized in the countries of the group during the year 2013-2014 to discuss the related issues and problems and benefit from each country's experience.
Al-Suwaiket also met with the heads of railways organizations of France, the Czech Republic, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey and India.
In the same context, SRO's representative in the UIC Balhadad explained that the SRO participates in International Union of Railways as an Effective Member within the Middle East Group, adding that SRO has prepared programs and workshops for the coming period to serve the railways' works in the ME in general and the Kingdom in particular via its experience and participation technically in the implementation of expansion projects and its support in the areas of training, maintenance and operation.