In addition to the plenary discussions, a global panel of speakers presented a wide range of topics under the headline:
“Railway 4.0: Standardisation for a fully-integrated digital railway system"
The focus was on how standards, recognised as a key lever to increase system performance, achieve cost reduction and to enlarge the range of personalised services offered to the end users of railway transportation, can help to facilitate the digitalisation agenda.
The benefits of digitalisation can be best visualised through the simplification and standardisation of system processes, the wider use of automation – increased performance of the system through transferring tasks or processes from the physical (or human) world to the digital world (e.g. data processing, virtual interlocking, decision-making supports, autonomous operation, numerical simulation in place of physical testing), and with ICT tools offering new and extended usages by multiplying connection possibilities (B2B, B2C, C2B) between the system and its users.
The core message from all the speakers was that the benefits of digitalisation will depend on the collective capacity of the railways to achieve a higher level of modelling and standardisation of the different processes. It would facilitate future-proofing the increasingly important upgrades at the application level with a plug and play philosophy.
François Davenne, Director General, UIC, highlighted that digitalisation of the system must be put at the heart of the sector’s evolution and that operational systems should be able to switch between passengers and containers as simply as data networks are switching packets.
The Standardisation Platform Chair, Laurent Schmitt, SNCF, thanked the panel of high-level keynote speakers who gave their vision of the future digital railway ecosystem and how standardisation can support the evolution of railway transportation.
Arne Benox (SBB- Head of Technology Office),
Stefan Jugelt (Project officer European Union Agency for Railways),
Igor Maksimov (Adviser of technical regulations and standardisation division - Department for Technical Regulation and Accreditation - Eurasian Economic Commission),
Luca Mariorenzi (FS Technology S.p.A. - GDS and international Systems for Trenitalia),
Timothy T. Tenne, (Amtrak, Senior Director, Standardisation and Evaluation),
François Davenne, Director General, UIC,
Francis Bedel (UIC – Chief Digital Officer),
Christian Chavanel (Director Railway System, UIC),
Simon Fletcher (Coordinator Europe and Chief Standardisation Officer, UIC,
Alain Jeanmaire (Digital Modelling Coordinator, UIC).
All the outputs from this event can be found on the UIC website by clicking on the following link:
https://events.uic.org/plenary-meeting-and-international-conference
