Following close consultation and with the full agreement of Mr. Isa Apaydin, Chairman of the Board and Director General of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and Vice-Chairman of UIC, and of UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, the decision has been made to postpone “UIC HIGHSPEED”, the 10th World Congress on High Speed Rail, initially scheduled to take place from 11 – 14 July 2017, to the new date of 8 – 11 May 2018 in Ankara.
This decision was taken on the occasion of the Organising Committee meeting, held in Ankara on 31 January. It notably takes into consideration political milestones and key facts, both at national and international level, which should be more favourable in 2018 regarding the organisation of such an international event.
The preparatory work for this World Congress on High Speed Rail will be continued and broadened, in an excellent climate of cooperation between the teams of UIC and Turkish railways, with the aim of taking advantage of this postponement, to increase the quality and the added-value of this international congress dedicated to all the major challenges and opportunities linked to the development of high speed.
The Congress will still be organised around 3 main blocks: sessions, professional exhibition and technical visits. Numerous plenary and parallel sessions will revolve around the most significant technical, economic and social streams. In addition, two round tables will give participants the opportunity to interact and exchange knowledge.
The Opening Ceremony, plenary and parallel sessions and the professional exhibition will be held at Ankara Chamber of Commerce Convention Centre in Ankara. This Convention Centre is closely surrounded by several hotels of different categories.
The next Organizing Committee meeting will be held on 3 March during Eurasia Rail in Istanbul, and will focus on the new Communication’s plan 2017-2018.
A new call for papers will be launched, probably in September 2017. Obviously we will keep all the abstracts that potential speakers already sent us. When the new call for papers is launched, these potential speakers will be asked to either keep their abstracts as they are currently or make changes or updates.
The procedure will continue as planned, in accordance with the new calendar that will be issued.
The new website will be available soon http://www.uic-highspeed2018.com/
