International Railway Standard UIC 413

Quite a few of the pictograms used worldwide originate from transport organizations. The UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de fer, International Union of Railways) was one of the pioneers with its first edition of the International Railway Standard 413 in the year 1960. The symbols of the original standard were designed and selected without checking comprehensibility and also often of poor visual quality. Over the years there was quite an improvement, as research data became available and railway officials and professional designers with interest in optimizing the quality of the symbol set got involved. In this context Paul Hoffmann from the Austrian Railways has to be mentioned, as he demanded that all pictograms used should be based on scientific research and therefore supported and co-sponsored many studies related to public information symbols.

Below a selection of pictograms from the 9^th edition of the International Railway Standard UIC 413 from the year 2000. Most pictograms of this edition were selected and improved on the basis of extensive tests.

					Means of transport
					Travel related services
					Luggage related services
					Orientation in buildings
					Other services
					Facilities in trains
					Hygiene
					Shops

The paper Railway Rules: Image Content Origins of Wayfinding Pictograms from the 1960s and 1970s by Wibo Bakker (2021) provides a good impression of the important role the UIC played in the development of wayfinding pictograms.