On 12 March 2015 the SMGG meeting took place in Paris.
SMGG is the UIC group dedicated to railway stations. It comprises station managers of UIC members.

UIC members represented at the meeting were: ADIF, ONCF, SNCF, DB, NSB, SNCB, RFI, RZD, Chinese railways, Korean Railways and Japanese Railways.

UIC Headquarters was represented by Iñaki Barrón (Director of the High Speed and Passenger Department) and Marc Guigon (Senior Advisor for Passenger Transport).

The main points discussed at the SMGG meeting were:

 The leaflet concerning information and signage in stations (413) will be updated and extended at global level
 Governance of stations
 The observatory for rail stations, which is a UIC website available for use by UIC members, will be developed with data and information from members (statistics, studies, mapping, organisations…)

This SMGG meeting was followed by the scientific committee of the next worldwide conference on stations (NEXT STATION 2015) which will be organised in Marrakech (Morocco) from 21 – 22 October 2015.

The call for papers has been launched. 8 topics are included in the parallel sessions:

1) Design (intermodality, capacity, flexibility, flow management, station typology, accessibility, sustainability etc.)
2) Technologies (intermodal information, facility management, ticketing, services, security, etc.)
3) Comprehensive protection (management of public spaces and intermodal security, feeling of security, design impacts, etc.)
4) Enhancing the customer experience: services, shops, retail, cultural activities, performance of the intermodal system, accessibility…
5) Development and management of stations (concepts, business approach, station to hub management, governance, urban integration, etc.)
6) Territories (urban-local integration, urban impact, socio-economic impact, infrastructure financing, multiple actors, intermobility, infrastructure, etc.)
7) Stations for high speed services (which specific services, traffic trend, flows management, impact on territories, etc.)
8) UIC activities and academic research

The theme of the round table will be: “Trends and Challenges of Intermobility”.

Academic activities will also be organised during this conference.