In the week leading up to the UIC General Assembly, the EMC (European Management Committee) and RAE (Regional Assembly Europe) meetings were held on 13 December bringing together senior representatives of member companies, partner organisations and colleagues from the UIC HQ team.

The EMC took place in workshop format, with the aim of preparing the 2024-2025 European Roadmap. The participants reviewed the common objectives of the roadmap and the activities in preparation for the first CEO meeting scheduled for next February.

The workshop was followed in the afternoon by the Regional Assembly Europe, opened by UIC Europe Region Acting Chair Martin Frobisher (Network Rail), UIC Director General François Davenne, and UIC Director Europe Sandra Géhénot.

The meeting endorsed the nomination of Luigi Ferraris (FS) as the new Chairman of UIC Europe for the coming two years.

In his speech Mr Ferraris said: “I am looking forward to having the possibility to lead, together with such distinguished fellow CEOs, the UIC Europe Region over the next two years. I will devote my best efforts to put the UIC Region Europe invaluable assets, projects and initiatives at the service of the collective efforts that the European Rail sector and the European Institutions are sharing to address the multiple challenges that lie ahead of us. Decarbonisation and rail growth shall be our targets, while digitalisation and innovation our key enablers, crafting plans to enhance key projects and game changers with tangible benefits for the rail sector. A close cooperation between technical developments and the European Union’s political agenda is central to achieve the ambitious goals set for the sector.”

Martin Frobisher drove the Region’s work programme and focus topics over the past year. The meeting was the occasion to review progress on these and more particularly:

• DAC (Digital Automatic Coupling): where Christian Chavanel, Rail System Director updated on the achievements within Europe’s Rail and stressed the importance of participating in the UIC-led project,
• The implementation of the Ticketing Roadmap jointly developed by UIC-CER and CIT reported on by Marc Guigon, Director Passenger,
• The latest developments of DP-RAIL, the EU co-funded project to support seamless operational data exchange for the sector and TAF-TSI compliance were presented by Sandra Géhénot, Director Europe,
• In the domain of energy efficiency, two key initiatives were reported on by Laurent Frechede, UIC Head of Rolling Stock and Energy:
• -Cost reduction of catenary electrification and H2TR project, which is a two-year, joint collaboration project focusing on the role of hydrogen technology in transport as a solution to replace diesel powered trains.
• -Joo Hyun Ha, UIC Senior Sustainability Advisor gave feedback on UIC’s strategic global advocacy themes and updated the audience on the outcome of UIC’s presence at COP28 in Dubai.

In addition to the specific projects, Ricardo Santoro was greeted by a standing ovation and thanked for his commitment and contribution to UIC’s research activities, notably through his chairmanship of RICG.

In her concluding words, Sandra Géhénot thanked the participants for joining, supporting and participating in the meeting. She also invited the RAE to warmly thank Martin Frobisher for his dedication to the role of acting Chair of the region throughout the period of 2023.

The next meeting of the EMC will be held on 19 February 2024 in Rome.