The Cape Town International Rail Registry and the Development of State Registries

Abstract

The International Rail Registry, established pursuant to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, will be a new global electronic commerce system for recording and establishing the relative priority of security interests in railway rolling stock. Although there is a history of national rail registries recording operational details of railway rolling stock there are few examples of registries in which security interests can be recorded. However, in recent years a significant number of countries have begun to establish state registries for recording security interests in movable assets. This article surveys the progress being made around the world with respect to such registries. This article will also consider some of the discussions which arose around how the International Rail Registry will interface with national registries as well as the evolution of the numbering system to identify specific items of railway rolling stock.