Systems Interface Committees

Purpose
The purpose of a Systems Interface Committee (SIC) is to assist the railway industry to manage all aspects of identified system interfaces in the most cost effective and efficient way. The SIC Protocol sets out a framework for the establishment, operation and management of SICs.

SIC Governance and Membership
Senior industry figures have volunteered to chair the SICs, and have been formally appointed by the RSSB Board. The members of each SIC represent the following industry categories:

• Passenger train operators
• Non-passenger train operators
• Network Rail
• Rolling stock owners
• Infrastructure contractors
• Suppliers

Participants also attend, representing the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), Department for Transport and RSSB.

RSSB provides a facilitation and procurement service to the SICs.

SIC Aims and Objectives
Each SIC meets approximately every four to eight weeks, and will endeavour to:

• Identify the best ‘system’ solutions for Britain’s railway industry, from a broad industry perspective.
• Determine the benefits to the railway industry as a whole.
• Identify where the costs and benefits fall.
• Present the preferred solutions to the railway industry.
• Seek agreement on how these solutions could be implemented.
• Refer unresolved issues to the Technical Strategy Advisory Group.

For a specific interface issue, a SIC will typically determine solutions based on sound technical and economic evaluation and identify which is in the best interest of the industry as a whole. Some of these solutions may be implemented unilaterally where it is in the commercial interest of individual organisations to do so. Existing processes (such as vehicle or network change) will be used as far as possible to balance instances where the benefits and costs of a given action may not lie in equal measure with the same parties. Where such processes are unsuitable, the regulators may act to ensure that parties are appropriately incentivised to implement optimal system-wide solutions.

SIC Formation

The SICs are working with RSSB to identify R&D projects for the future that will bring measurable benefits to the industry.

Five SICs have been formed to address the primary industry interfaces.

Optimising the Future Railway – the work of the Systems Interface Committees

SIC Seminar – 28 March 2007

On 28 March the Institution of Mechanical Engineers hosted a seminar day called ‘Optimising the Future Railway – the work of the Systems Interface Committees’ which aimed to promote the current work of the Systems Interface Committees (SICs) and elaborate on how this ties into the themes emerging from the Technical Strategy.

To view the SIC bulletin on the seminar, please click the link.

Any general queries concerning SICs should be directed to Adam Milligan (020 7904 7629) in the first instance.