Brussels, 04/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - UNIFE, which represents the European rail industry, signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with RZD, Russian Railways, on Wednesday 2 September, with a view to their working together to promote the International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS) in Russia.
Under the terms of this agreement, the two organisations commit themselves to closer collaboration to establish a regular dialogue within the existing UNIFE and IRIS committees. The ultimate goal is to develop and disseminate the IRIS scheme in Russia and, more generally, the CIS and to support the rail sector in these two countries.
The memorandum of understanding crowns eight years of cooperation between UNIFE and the two bodies in the Russian Non-commercial Partnership Union of Industries of Railway Equipment (NP-UIRE), which began in 2007. In the past two years, the work between the two organisations has ramped up significantly, attested, for example, by the publication of a joint European Union-Eurasian Economic Community document to help better understand the respective procedures for the assessment and certification of railway products. A UNIFE press release states that, at present, over 90 Russian companies are IRIS certified, making it one of the largest IRIS certified markets in the world.
In the long term, the aim is to harmonise technical legislations and improve the exchange of information and best practice. Recently, Russian Railways have begun a pilot IRIS certification project for its structural units in the maintenance of high-speed motor-wagon rolling stock and repair of freight cars, RZD Senior Vice-President Valentin Gapanovich stated.
IRIS seeks to improve the quality and the reliability of the rail products, to implement and further develop a global system for the evaluation of companies supplying the rail sector, and to instil a culture of quality throughout the sector. At present, almost 1,200 companies are IRIS-certified worldwide. (Pascal Hansens)