A message from our Chairman at International Rail Development 2018…

Focusing on some of these projects and bringing key project leaders into one venue is Global Railway Review’s new conference: International Rail Development, which the UIC is very pleased to be supporting and which I am delighted to be chairing in Brussels on 22 and 23 May 2018.

Following on from Global Railway Review’s successful Iberian Rail Development and Scandinavian Rail Development, this conference, like the magazine itself, is going international for 2018’s iteration and will bring global rail travel to the fore.

Growing the use of rail transportation as the backbone of land transportation, is as important as ever and with transport technology at a point where this can now be a reality (higher speeds, longer and heavier trains…), it has never been more invigorating to be part of the rail sector and I’m thrilled to be joined by peers at this conference who are making this possible.

These include:

• Nakorn Chantasorn, Adviser to the President of National Science and Technology Development Agency in Thailand, who will focus on integrated freight and passenger railway on the South-East Asian network
• Niall Fagan, Head of Track Engineering at HS2, who will provide an in-depth perspective on this exciting and innovative UK project
• Martha Lawrence, Senior Railway Specialist Leader, Railways Community of Practice at the World Bank who will discussing how to get such huge railway projects financed
• Dr. Gerhard Troche, Expert at the KTH Railway Group and former National Expert at the European Commission, who will be delving into the exciting subject of connecting Europe and Asia by rail
• Rudolf Koller, Railway Consultant and former Head of International Relations at ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG who will be discussing how the authority successfully built Vienna’s Central Station in just six years
• Kaspars Briškens, Business Development Director at Rail Baltica, who will be discussing this hugely important project for not only Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but North-East Europe in general
• GRR Advisory Board member, Christine Kraft, Project Manager of ETCS at Deutsche Bahn AG, who will be going into details about DB Kommunikationstechnik GmbH, one of the business units of Deutsche Bahn AG Group DB and how they are facing the challenges of implementing ETCS in Germany
• Alejandro Moreno, the Director of the UK’s Midland Metro Alliance, who will be informing us on the Alliance’s big plans for tram extensions in the West Midlands and
• Gerald Schinagl, the Digital Innovation Manager at ÖBB, who will delve into the world of digitalisation and setting up organisational structures for digitalisation and much more besides.

Encompassing representatives from Europe, Asia and the US, and including topics such as financing, digitalisation, infrastructure and asset management, International Rail Development will cover a plethora of topics from all over the world.

Taking place over 24 hours at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in the centre of Brussels, International Rail Development will be branching out from the average conference to allow for a specific focus on networking, allowing delegates to book one-to-one meetings with speakers and their team of project leaders well in advance, as well as sitting in on and actively contributing to the very wide range of informative sessions over the two days.

Furthermore, with a start at lunchtime on the first day, and an afternoon finish time on the second day (as well as an inclusive networking dinner), International Rail Development 2018 stands out as a conference that focuses on its attendees, maximising the flow of information, whilst minimising the amount of precious time that people need to spend away from the day job.

International Rail Development 2018 offers the participant an all-inclusive event of useful information, intelligent debate, sharing experience, showcasing talent and networking with professionals from many sections of the railway system.