International Union of Railways. The International Union of Railways (, UIC) is an international rail transport industry body based in Paris.

History 
The railways of Europe had originated during the nineteenth century as many separate concerns across numerous nations; this led to disparate and conflicting standards emerging and thus onto incompatibility. One prominent example was the British Gauge War, during which different railway companies were laying different track gauges across Great Britain, causing inefficiency wherever a break of gauge occurred, prior to an Act of Parliament the issue in 1846 by establishing one standard gauge of . The early effort towards standardisation somewhat influenced railways aboard as well, however various other track gauges persisted and developed across the world; even through to the twenty first century, incompatible track gauges, let alone other issues, persisted to hinder interoperability efforts.

Several key events happened during the early twentieth century; in the aftermath of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles, numerous border changes were enacted across Europe, which greatly impacted several formerly united national railway networks while compelling several others together in some cases. It was early into the interwar period that the UIC was established on 17 October 1922 with the principal aim of standardising practices across the railway industry and expanding international cooperation in the sector.

The UIC has introduced numerous classification systems over the decades. During the 1970s, the UIC Franc currency equivalent was established for the purpose of easing international ticket revenue sharing; it was replaced by the European Currency Unit on 1 January 1990. UIC classification and UIC Country Codes allowed precise determination of rolling stock capabilities and ownership; furthermore, wagons have been assigned their own unique UIC wagon numbers.

Over time, the UIC has formed various partnerships and cooperative frameworks with other multinational railway authorities, such as the European Union Agency for Railways. The UIC has played a leading role in the development of Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs), which have gradually taken over from older standards developed by various national railway entities.

During the 1990s, the GSM-R radio telecommunication system was formulated as an international interoperability specification covering voice and signalling systems for railway communications. GSM-R, which is built on GSM technology, was designed to be a cost efficient digital replacement for various existing incompatible in-track cable and analogue railway radio networks. The specification for GSM-R is maintained via the UIC project European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). By June 2023, GSM-R had been implemented across roughly 130,000km of track, along with 90,000 cab radios and 20,000 datalink radio units.

A more capable next-generation radio, the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) program, is under development as of 2023. In addition to eventually replacing GSM-R, it will provide new capabilities that require more rapid data exchange, such as live video transmission.

Mission 
The UIC's mission is "to promote rail transport at world level and meet the challenges of mobility and sustainable development."

Objectives 
The UIC's main objectives are to:

 Facilitate the sharing of best practices among members (benchmarking)
 Support members in their efforts to develop new business and new areas of activities
 Propose new ways to improve technical and environmental performance
 Promote interoperability, create new world standards for railways (including common standards with other transport modes)
 Develop centres of competence (High Speed, Safety, Security, e-Business, ...)

Members 
When founded in 1922 the UIC had 51 members from 29 countries, including Japan and China. They were soon joined by members from the Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa. As of February 2024, the UIC has 223 members (include suspended) across five continents. Of these there are:
 62 active members (usually companies located in Europe, East Asia, South Asia and Middle East):

 ÖBB
 Infrabel and SNCB
 ŽFBH
 BDZ and NRIC
 CR and NRA
 HŽ Infrastruktura
 ČD and Správa železnic
 DSB
 FTIA
 SNCF
 DB
 Hellenic Train and OSE
 Gysev/Raaberbahn and MÁV
 Indian Railways
 RAI
 IRR
 CIÉ
 Israel Railways
 FS
 JR East
 KTZ
 Korail and Korea National Railway
 LDZ
 LTG
 UBTZ
 ONCF
 NS and ProRail
 Bane NOR
 PKP
 CP and IP SA
 CFR Călători, CFR Marfă and CFR SA
 SAR
 IŽS
 ŽSR, ZSSK and ZSSK Cargo
 SŽ
 Adif and Renfe
 Green Cargo, SJ and Trafikverket
 BLS and SBB CFF FFS
 CFS
 THSRC
 TCDD and TCDDT
 UZ
 Eurostar I and Network Rail

 82 affiliate members (usually companies located in Africa, Oceania, South America and Southeast Asia, or universities and organisations in Europe and Asia, or government authorities):

 ANESRIF
 ALAF and JST
 HSRA, NTC, NTRO, TFNSW, Queensland TMR, Victoria DOTP and Western Australia PTA
 BR ICS and Ubimet
 BCC
 ANPTrilhos
 RAC and TC
 BJTU, CARS, CRDC, CRECC, CRRC Zhuzhou Institute, CRRC Qingdao Sifang RSRI, CRSC Research & Design Institute, SWJTU and Tongji University
 ANi
 Ermewa, Europe Express, Lisea, Région Grand Est, Systra and TELT
 ARTF
 Bodensee-Schiffsbetriebe and OPTIMA-TOURS
 ÉKM, FoxRail and VPE
 NCRTC and NHSRCL
 Isfahan Kafriz
 NTV
 JR RTRI
 ARC and JHR
 KRRI
 RB Rail
 ARTF
 MTZ
 Eurail and Hitrail
 COGEFER
 Entur and Norske Tog
 DOT
 IK
 Medway
 AFER
 TGA
 CFS and SENTER
 Eurorail Logistics and ŽS
 RSR and TUT
 FCH and FFE
 ASTOC, Jernhusen and Stena Line
 Alliance Swisspass and EUROFIMA
 DRT
 MOEI
 ATOC, BCRRE, GCRE, Harsco, HS2 Limited and RSSB
 AAR and FRA

 62 associate members (usually companies in Africa and North America):

 ARA
 SNTF
 FASE
 SCR
 Sydney Trains
 GKB and WLC
 ADY
 Lineas and THI Factory
 ŽRS
 BRC
 SOPAFERB
 Camrail
 Via Rail
 EFE
 SIPF and Sitarail
 HŽ Cargo and HŽPP
 Student Agency
 ENR
 EDR
 VR
 Getlink
 Setrag
 ERC.D
 Georgian Railway
 Attica Group
 GYSEV Cargo
 Trenord
 JR Central and JR West
 KRC
 CFL and CFL Cargo
 KTM
 SNIM
 ŽPCG
 ZRSM Infrastructure
 Oman Rail
 PNR
 CTV, GFR and Unicom
 GTS
 Srbija Kargo and Srbijavoz
 ETS, Euskotren, FGC and LFP
 RHB
 TRC
 TRC
 SRT
 SNCFT
 Etihad Rail
 NI Railways
 Amtrak and CHSRA
 VNR

 17 suspended members:

 BCh
 ONATRA
 DJKA, KAI and MASKA
 Libya Railway
 MyHSR Corp and RAC
 ZRSM Transport
 FPC, MIIT, NIIAS, RZD, RZDstroy and VNIIZHT
 Sudan Railways Corporation
 Syrian Hedjaz Railways

On 12 November 2010, the UIC opened an African regional office in Tunis, Tunisia with the support of SNCFT.

On 9 March 2022, the UIC suspended all member companies from Russia and Belarus, following Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Standard terminology 
In order to provide a common understanding and reduce potential confusion, the UIC has established standard international railway terminology and a trilingual (English-French-German) thesaurus of terms. The thesaurus was the result of cooperation with the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT/) and was published in 1995.

Classification of railway vehicles 

The UIC has established systems for the classification of locomotives and their axle arrangements, coaches and goods wagons.

Some UIC regulations 
UIC plays an important role in standardization of railway parts, data and terminology, though the degree to which its standards have been adopted by its members varies. Therefore, UIC codes (also known as UIC leaflet) are developed since the beginning of UIC's work. A new term for these UIC leaflets is used by UIC for better understanding: International Railway Solution (IRS).

Some UIC codes are:

 UIC 568 The 13-corded standardized connection cable with connector is used to transmit data and commands between the locomotive and the carriages of a passenger train.
 UIC 592-2 Large containers for transport on wagons – Technical conditions to be fulfilled by large containers accepted for use in international traffic. Describes the classes and categories of large containers, handling characteristics, identification markings, and special conditions applying to large tank containers.
 UIC 592-3 Large containers (CT), swap bodies (CM) and transport frames for horizontal transhipment (CA) – Standard report on acceptance tests.
 UIC 592-4 Swap bodies for grab handling and spreader gripping – Technical conditions. Swap bodies are the removable superstructures of road transport vehicles. Their dimensions and some of their fittings are standardised, particularly dimensions, strength parameters and securing devices, of the road vehicle, the wagon and transhipment arrangements (grab-handling grooves, lower securing parts and, in special cases, upper securing parts).
 UIC 596-5 Transport of road vehicles on wagons – Technical organisation – Conveyance of semi-trailers with P coding or N coding on recess wagons. This leaflet sets out regulations and provisions for semi-trailers with normal road transport characteristics for conveyance on fixed-recess carrier wagons. The provisions are valid for semi-trailers, gantry equipment/industrial trucks with grab handles, recess wagon types 1a and 1b in accordance with UIC Leaflet 571–4.
 UIC 596-6 Conveyance of road vehicles on wagons – Technical organisation – Conditions for coding combined-transport load units and combined-transport lines. The leaflet sets out the coding and organisation of loading units in respect of road vehicles on wagons, designed to ensure compatibility of loading units (LU) with the permissible profile for combined transport lines. The provisions aim to facilitate LU identification to speed-up international traffic movements. They are applicable to semi-trailers, swap bodies, roller units loaded on wagons and bogies in combined transport operations.
FU-7100 Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) User Requirements Specification.  Defines a set of technology independent user requirements in the form of individual applications.  Each application has been defined to provide or support an identified communications need that is considered necessary for current and future railway operation.

See also 
 African Union of Railways, similar organisation focused on Africa
 Association of American Railroads
 Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail
 International Union of Public Transport, (UITP) which covers passenger railways, especially in cities.
 Organization for Cooperation of Railways (OSShD) focused on Eastern Europe and Central Asia
 Community of Metros

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links 
 

 
Organizations established in 1922
Railway associations
International transport organizations