The 12th UIC ERTMS World Conference following a successful edition in April 2014 in Istanbul, will be held from 29 February to 2 March 2016 in Brussels (“The Square” conference centre) close to the Central Station.
The conference is jointly organised by UIC, the worldwide association of railways grouping 240 members from 95 countries, and the Belgian rail infrastructure manager INFRABEL under the patronage of the ‘Service public fédéral Mobilité et Transports’ of Belgium (Belgian Federal Public Service of Mobility and Transport).
The global UIC ERTMS conference has become a worldwide reference and attracts all players and decision-makers involved in the development, financing and deployment of the standard rail traffic management system ERTMS and its components ETCS (unified train control system) and GSM-R (radio communications system dedicated to railways).
The main theme of the 2016 UIC ERTMS World Conference will be ‘ERTMS – Managing long term safety investment in a rapidly changing world’.
Various sessions will focus on:
- Long term vision on Safety, Security and Testing
- Migration (interoperability)
- Global opportunities and challenges for ERTMS
- Telecommunications
- Financing and Asset management
- Operations with ERTMS
- Evolution
Welcome addresses at the opening session will be delivered – among confirmed speakers – by Mrs Jacqueline Galant, Federal Minister for Mobility in Belgium, Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General of the International Union of Railways (UIC), Mr Luc Lallemand, CEO of the Belgian rail infrastructure manager INFRABEL and Chairman of the UIC Rail System Forum, Mr Josef Doppelbauer, Executive Director of the European Railway Agency (ERA), Mr Philippe Citroën, General Director of European Rail Industries UNIFE, Mr Libor Lochman, Executive Director of the Community of European Rail and Infrastructure companies (CER), Mrs Kerstin Schreiber, CEO of Funkwerk AG, GSM-R IG,..
On 29 February, a programme of technical visits will be offered by INFRABEL which focuses on the guided visit of two major Belgian railway stations, Liège Guillemins and Antwerp Central.
These visits will be followed by a visit of the new Train World Museum inaugurated in Brussels-Schaerbeek on 24 September 2015.
All major suppliers and companies involved in the development and deployment of ERTMS, ETCS, GSM-R, will be present with a high visibility sign at the ERTMS Exhibition in ‘The Square’ as exhibitors or as sponsors.
