Lights from a speeding train at night

Programme (Previous 2018 Event)

The past decade has seen a real boom in technology and innovation, and the digitalisation of existing railway assets alongside brand-new railway technologies are making ground-breaking strides in keeping the rail industry at the very forefront of this technological boom.

The railway sector has a well-deserved reputation for embracing new technological advances to improve their operations, and with estimates putting the total population at 8.6 billion by mid-2030, change is necessary. The adoption of digital technologies is a cost-effective way of releasing significant additional capacity on the existing network and the successful implementation of digitalised initiatives can streamline operations.

In conjunction with the UIC, the Digital Rail Revolution conference will focus on some of the most important rail digital initiatives taking place around the world and discuss and debate what the future of the rail industry may look like.

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Programme

08:50 - Chairman’s opening address

Speakers:
Francis Bedel, Chief Digital Officer, UIC

08:55 - Keynote speech from the UIC

Speakers:
Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General, International Union of Railways (UIC)

09:10 - Opening panel: Why invest in digitalisation?

Speakers:
Toufic Machnouk, Route Programme Director, London North Eastern & East Midlands, Network Rail
Nick Brooks, Secretary General, ALLRail
Ilja Lorenzo Volpi, Head of Public Affairs, Community of European Railways and Infrastructure
Krzysztof Wilczek, Head of Track Analytics, Plasser & Theurer
Francis Bedel, Chief Digital Officer, UIC

09:50 - Technology trends driving track maintenance

Speakers:
Krzysztof Wilczek, Head of Track Analytics, Plasser & Theurer

10:05 - The train of tomorrow: SNCF’s autonomous train project

Speakers:
Rémy Lagay, Deputy Director of the Autonomous Train Program, SNCF

11:15 - Panel discussion: Cyber security in digitalised rail

Speakers:
Toufic Machnouk, Route Programme Director, London North Eastern & East Midlands, Network Rail

11:50 - Panel discussion: Focusing on the passenger – how new technology can improve the passenger journey

Speakers:
Michael Stalter, Head of Sales & Account Management Northern, Central and Eastern Europe & America
Jenny Gejke, Head of Digital Channels, SJ
Erik Evtimov, Deputy Secretary General, Project Coordinator, Comité international des transports ferroviaires (CIT)

Digitalisation in infrastructure

Digitalisation for the operator

13:45 - The use of smart assets in real operational use cases

Speakers:
Philippe de Laharpe, Project Manager of Télédiagnostic, SNCF

14:30 - Fast Terminal: Modernising existing rail systems

Speakers:
Harald Jony, Managing Director, WienCont Container Terminal Gesellschaft m.b.H.

15:00 - The challenges of big data to improve business processes

Speakers:
Marleen Verheyen, Advisor, Traffic Management & Services, Infrabel
Dieter Galle, Data Scientist, Infrabel

16:00 - The Internet of Rail and effective Asset Management

Speakers:
Christophe Sanguina, Market and Portfolio Director - Services, Alstom

16:15 - Artificial Intelligence in Railways and Beyond

Speakers:
Lindsey Mancini, Senior Manager, Security and IT in Public Transport, UITP

16:50 - Panel discussion: Internet of Rail

Speakers:
Yves Perreal, Director of Advanced Studies at Thales, Chairman of the UNIFE Digitalisation Platform
Erik Evtimov, Deputy Secretary General, Project Coordinator, Comité international des transports ferroviaires (CIT)

17:30 - Chairman’s closing remarks

Speakers:
Francis Bedel, Chief Digital Officer, UIC