European Railroad Discussion > UIC Code Clarification Needed...

Instead of using just the unit numbers I started making listing on UIC codes too. Now, what I thought would be an easy system seems at start being quite nightmarish jungle. If any on you are familiar with this jungle of markings, please pinpoint me to source that has proper reference of the use of these numbers. UIC themselves does not seem to be that, besides Google is saying UIC pages might be hacked...

Thank you for any help on the issue! 

Below some unclear examples from the very latest SNCF rolling stock.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/15 04:30 by McKey.

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If my memory serves me correctly, the first 4 numbers are the country code, the next 4 are the type of equipment, the next 3 are the equipment ID (car number) and the last digit is the check digit.

Thanks for a reminder. This is what they basically are, with several unclear spots remaining in numbering. Reading UIC tables it seems like here only digits 3 and 4 (=87 for France) are clear. So digits 1 and 2 are still a mystery. This is a brand new SNCF TGV-2N2 / RGV-2N2 #813. The locomotive numbering of the set is "unusual". But on trailers I can still pics last 4 digits making sense before the check digit at the end. Set number painted at the train ends is 813, the same number as trailers' digits before the last and coach / trailer number (1 to 8).  This still leaves mysterious 0310 or 310 depending where you look.

Thank you for any additional help and where to look for these.
 

Hi McKey,

The codes for powered units are divided as follows (cars have a different meaning of digits 5 to 8):

• Digits 1 & 2: Type and interoperability code (e.g. 93 == Electric multiple unit (high speed) [power car or trailer])
• Digits 3 & 4: Country code (e.g. 87 == France)
• Digits 5 to 8: Vehicle type information (provided by the authorities of the different countries)
• Digits 9 to 11: Individual running number ((provided by the authorities of the different countries))
• Digit 12: Self-check number
• Followed by the registered vehicle keeper (e.g. F-SNCF; complete list can be found at ERA list of VMK 

Hope this helps!
E111



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/15 08:37 by E111.

Excellent E111, thank you! You also provided many valuable information sources for the future studies. And the ERA list is a treasure!
 

As usual there's a Wikipedia page for this - 

List of UIC country codes

European railway numbering system

UIC classification of railway coaches

UIC classification of goods wagons

 

I looked at my few pictures I took in France in 2013 and do not see these UIC codes. Were they in use then or more than likely I just did not get a good picture of them?

Jim

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Thanks for collecting the list! 

The problem here is that you can use these only as long as you believe what wiki tells you, you have to remember that only 70% of Wikipedia content is correct. 70% is an extremely low figure so if you are knowledgeable on _any_ subject of your picking and look wikipedia, you will find huge errors, unfortunately. So Wikipedia should never be used without other sources too. For digging train information for reference it might be a good starting point, but you also need real people with real experience, something where trainorders.com excels (has done all the 12 years I've been member of this netvork), you need originals sources (UIC pages that are hacked according to Google (they actually can tell this by virus scanning the excel files etc. found there)), ERA list E111 kindly pointed to, other pages, lots of reference books and a bunch of magazines, etc. The problems with UIC usage here are somewhat more complex than usual with strange numbering system SNCF uses, it is not logical, they simply pics the next free numbers for the new rolling stock, so you can't figure out certain aspects from just seeing the numbers.

C'est complexe! And equally neatly challenging task!

3rd_Raton Wrote:
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> As usual there's a Wikipedia page for this - 
>
> List of UIC country codes
>
> European railway numbering system
>
> UIC classification of railway coaches
>
> UIC classification of goods wagons
>
>  

What a cool looking TER unit! In which area did you find this? This is one of the typical design 4 module DMUs in use in France. Normally the traffic is paid by the local authorities, who also wish to have their colors printed / vinyled on the units (normal case all over Europe and North America I suppose), making very interesting vehicles just waiting to be spotted. Depending on the financial support to local fleet you can also make some interesting finds once you get to used to see these neat and comfortable (albeit often graffiti covered and undercleaned) trains from Bombardier and Alstom, the two largest builders in France. 

As to UIC code usage, this is unfortunately not the angle where you see them. Here you can only see the running number on the nose of the MU. Would it be 82634 by taking away the first area digit? I looked at my pictures of EMUs I sorted out categorically yesterday for you all, and to my surprise UIC numbers are still rare in those pics. Yet, in Nice this time during one weeks vacation just about every unit now seemed to carry one. Maybe they are adding these only now? And of course the local traffic due to space restrictions now runs between Ventigmilia in Italy and lots of French location in the South, one good reason for adding international numbering too...

Back to subject: the UIC number can be seen at the leading module end near bogie / truck with relatively small letters. No chance of spotting that if the train is running fast past you :(    

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> I looked at my few pictures I took in France in
> 2013 and do not see these UIC codes. Were they in
> use then or more than likely I just did not get a
> good picture of them?
>
> Jim

If you wish to see the situation ten to one years ago, please look here for EMUs: http://www.4rail.net/reference_france_gallery2_emus.php
Many more recent pictures will be added in the coming weeks and months. 

Below one of the Paris area STIF Z50'000s showing how small the numbers are and how they are located low just above the second bogie. Try to catch that with a camera or read it with a MU speeding by... 8-)
 

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My dad and I both  liked how much color and shapes and stuff were on the trains, trams and buses in France. Up until a few years ago a white bus with a stripe was as exciting as it got for most of the US for bus paint schemes. Being a transit bus driver and bus fan from the US it was great to see stuff done with paint and vinyl we would never see back home. 

1) I found I had a picture of the other end of the DMU with the eye. These were taken at Caen in the Normandy Region. these were probably the cutest DMU wrap I saw.
2) I did find I had a UIC number on some Corral coaching stock that came in before we got on our DMU to Le Mans. 
3) UIC number cropped and blown up. They are rather small.
I guess since I didn't know what to look for I didn't know what to look for. I hope to return to France in 2019 and spend more time there.

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/15 19:15 by tq-07fan.

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Interesting pictures Jim, thanks for sharing! Looks like Caen station is being heavily reworked. For French crowded stations there almost always will be need for this...many are uncorfortable concrete jungles with hardly accessible underpassages. Which also means they are poorly suited for larger crowds when any bigger service pulls in.

tq-07fan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My dad and I both  liked how much color and
> shapes and stuff were on the trains, trams and
> buses in France. Up until a few years ago a white
> bus with a stripe was as exciting as it got for
> most of the US for bus paint schemes. Being a
> transit bus driver and bus fan from the US it was
> great to see stuff done with paint and vinyl we
> would never see back home. 
>
> 1) I found I had a picture of the other end of
> the DMU with the eye. These were taken at Caen in
> the Normandy Region. these were probably the
> cutest DMU wrap I saw.
> 2) I did find I had a UIC number on some Corral
> coaching stock that came in before we got on our
> DMU to Le Mans. 
> 3) UIC number cropped and blown up. They are
> rather small.
> I guess since I didn't know what to look for I
> didn't know what to look for. I hope to return to
> France in 2019 and spend more time there.
>
> Jim

Great that you could catch the local Corail coaches from North! It says "Intercites Normandie" on coaches, these might still be used on longer routes I suppose. Some traditional coach services seem to exist these days along with all those 600 TGV units (your Caen picture shows TGV-PSE or TGV-Réseau at the background). 

For those unfamiliar with Corails these were the super comfortable coaches of the 1970s and early 1980s. They were used on "Grandes lignes", today dominated by TGVs. With accumulating TGV unit numbers Corails, then painted green and silver (if my memory serves me right), were slowly pushed aside and there has ever after been a huge surplus of these coaches. As a result SNCF has been trying to figure out new use through regional operations, and in some cases this Intercite train type. Corail coach typically has compartments for day and night use, some have just chairs in one or two larger areas. 1st and 2nd class exist(ed). This is also one of the first coaches to employ what I call "standard European bogie" running extremely well. Corail coaches are also built so that they run smoothly in the very long formations too. Needles to say this coach type still remain popular today. 

As an effort for refurbishing Corail Teoz was introduced some years ago. Basically this is a slightly refurbished coach with incredibly colorful exterior vinyls attached. You can see these at least in the Southern France. Along with maybe 20 other color schemes, more or less parked at the railyards due to the surplus. 

1) Infamous "European standard bogie"
2) Nearly original colors for Corail coach.
3) One of the current paint schemes, I think this might be a night train coach (correct me if I'm wrong), with some Corail Teoz vinyls attached.
 

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Taking another look at the blue coaches: are these Corails at all? Some structures definitely come from them, while others look slightly different?