As part of the 2019 European Rail Infrastructure Forum held on 12-14 June in Bern, Switzerland, UIC participated in a session on “smart ERTMS” at the invitation of the Swiss Federal Railways. The panel comprised Michel Ruesen, ERTMS Users Group, Andy Doherty, Network Rail, Kay Euler, Deutsche Bahn, Jürg Lütscher, FOT, Jacques Boschung, SBB, Elisabeth Werner, European Commission, François Davenne, UIC, Carlo Borghini, Shift2Rail and Josef Doppelbauer, ERA.

François Davenne highlighted similarities between the rail network and data networks. Within the framework of the Swiss Smartrail 4.0 initiative, the goal is to use digitalisation to identify the right path toward upgrading ERTMS in order to facilitate simpler, less expensive traffic management and deliver greater capacity using existing physical infrastructure.