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The International Union of Railways (UIC) recently contracted TTCI(UK) Ltd. to provide an independent, third-party assessment of the union's proposal to offer a worldwide quality assurance program for the rail industry.

UIC would pattern its program after the Association of American Railroads' Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices M-1003 program.

A subsidiary of the Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI), TTCI(UK) will complete an assessment in two phases. The first phase calls for conducting a feasibility study, including a worldwide survey of the rail industry. Under the second phase, TTCI(UK) would develop a detailed business model to define staffing needs, an administrative structure and fees necessary to create a self-funding program.

The quality assurance program would simplify supplier certification procedures in different parts of the world and eliminate the need for suppliers to conform to several different and potentially conflicting quality-control programs, UIC said.

"Since this is a quality program, local issues, such as the structure of the railway administration (e.g. government-owned or private sector) or the gauge of the railway should not affect potential acceptance of the program," said TTCI Vice President of Commercial Programs Al Reinschmidt in a prepared statement.