The enforcement of the Convention on international rail transport (COTIF) 1999 on July 1, 2006 introduced new regulations concerning the technical specifications applicable to freight wagons. The former RIV agreement signed by railway companies was partially replaced by a new, private and voluntary agreement: the General Contract of Use (GCU) signed between railway companies and freight wagon keepers.
The General Contract of Use (GCU), including its appendices, sets out the conditions for the provision of wagons for use as a means of transport by RUs in national and international traffic within the scope of application of the COTIF in force. Commercial conditions for the use of wagons are outside the scope of this contract. The provisions of this contract shall apply to wagon keepers and RUs as users of wagons. Use of a wagon includes the loaded run and the empty run, as well as cases in which the wagon is in the custody of a signatory RU. In July 2010, UIC organised a workshop in St Petersburg which focused on the evolution of the relations between transport operators as users of wagons and between transport operators and wagon keepers.
Added flexibility
UIC, UIP and ERFA are closely working together. Their objective is to develop the General Contract of Use (GCU) for freight wagons. The three associations have expressed their opinion that, by signing this contract, railway players have shown that they are able to develop their activity on a liberalized market, in a field in which cooperation represents an advantage. UIC, UIP and ERFA play a major role in this process; they monitor the implementation and observance of the conditions stipulated in the General Contract of Use (GCU). The European Commission and the European Railway Agency (ERA) believe that the GCU has a significant value; according to them, the GCU represents a vector for the concrete and efficient implementation of the European legislation in the railway sector. The GCU provides a multilateral legal framework for the use of wagons, based on the Contract of Use of Vehicles (CUV). This contract stipulates mutual rights and obligations for the use of wagons for both transport operators and wagon keepers. GCU exempts the parties involved in the contract from the negotiation of numerous bilateral agreements, therefore ensuring interoperability on a liberalized European railway market. At the same time, GCU can be amended through other contractual terms, if the signatories consider it necessary. GCU applies the same regulations for the wagons owned by private companies and those that are in the custody of transport operators. The GCU eliminates the “matriculation” monopoly of private wagons by transport operators. The new COTIF 1999 abrogates any responsibility from the operator for the transport of wagons. In 2006, when the GCU was first enforced, there were 436 signatories. In 2008, their nu7mber increased to 586. In April 2010, their number reached 643, which means an additional 700.000 wagons or, more precisely, 90% of the freight wagons in Europe. 2/3 of the 700.000 wagons are owned by transport operators. For the railway transport sector, the GCU represents a stable, predictable and safe system, which provides responsibility for those involved. The GCU provides a better understanding of the logics and economy of the constitutive elements of the transport chain. The GCU also provides transport operators with the possibility to activate as cooperative competitors because the railway system needs a substantial amount of cooperation to work efficiently even in a liberalized environment.
Railway wagons take on the standards used in container transport
Railway freight transport made a huge step on October 1, 2010, when the first virtual database for freight wagon registration became operational. This database stores all the information related to a wagon that crosses Europe and parts of the CIS region, from type, keeper, country of origin etc. This system was designed as a copy of the system that has been used for contained transport since 1933. With its help, any control authority, logistics operator or port owner can find out all the necessary information related to a particular container. The GCU contract and code become equivalent to the BIC contract and code which applies to containers. The new database, which benefits from secure access, will store all the information related to the administrative GCU regulations.
by Elena Ilie
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