On 2 September, UIC was pleased to accept the kind invitation of its valued member, SYSTRA, to join in welcoming a delegation of 42 participants from Chinese Taiwan to SYSTRA’s headquarters in Paris.

The delegation was led by Dr Jay N. Shih, Minister of Civil Service, and Mr Chun-Jung Su, Minister of the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration, Executive Yuan.

Representing UIC, Mr Philippe Lorand, Director of Institutional Relations, Advocacy and Communications, and Coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Region, delivered a presentation on the growing importance of artificial intelligence in the railway sector. He highlighted its applications in maintenance and inspection, traffic and safety management, passenger mobility, and information services, as well as marketing and investment strategies.

Ms Lucie Anderton, UIC Director of Sustainability and Coordinator of the North America Region, spoke about UIC’s key role in bringing together stakeholders to advance sustainability in rail. Her remarks focused on the topic of energy and decarbonisation, sharing the details of tools co-created at UIC with members including the Traction Energy & Emissions database, EcoPassenger and API.

This meeting was particularly timely, as several major rail and urban transport projects are currently under development in Chinese Taiwan, motivating the delegation’s interest in engaging with UIC and SYSTRA as a global reference in technical expertise and innovation in the fields of rail and AI in sustainability.