Within the framework of the Hungarian Presidency of the Visegrad Group, a special event was held on 31 January and 1 February by Hungrail, entitled V4+ Rail CEO Summit.

This event aims to build successful rail cooperation and exchange of experience among many of the participating CEOs of railway carriers, infrastructure companies and members of the different governments who are responsible for transport in these V4 countries and in Central and Eastern Europe.

On this occasion, UIC, represented by its Director General Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, was invited to deliver a keynote speech on the major trends of mobility in this new 21st century context, and the digital impact on the railway business with a specific focus on rail freight development.

Mr Loubinoux’s opening remarks highlighted the change in philosophy from transport to accessibility, the concern regarding saturation and congestion of increasingly larger cities requiring a new approach in the form of “smart cities”, and the main course of direction promoted by UIC towards a sustainable, integrated, international and connected chain of mobility with railway as the backbone of a new strategy of sustainable development.