The 41st ASEAN Railway CEOs’ Conference, annual rotating event among six South East Asian Nations, was hosted in Bangkok by SRT, the State Railway of Thailand, on 28 – 31 October 2019.
UIC has now been invited as a Guest of Honour organisation for many years, and was represented again by Mr Milko Papazoff, UIC ASEAN Representative.
This 41st edition also marked the return of the Philippines to the ASEAN Railway Grouping, through PNR, the Philippine National Railways, and which is therefore now composed of eight active members:
MPWT-DR of Cambodia, PT. KAI of Indonesia, LRA of Laos, KTMB of Malaysia, MR of Myanmar, PNR of the Philippines, SRT of Thailand and VNR of Vietnam.
In the spirit of ASEAN unity, and its vision “One Vision, One Identity, One Community”, SRT has placed this year under its own vision of “Make Bold Moves”, and as Thailand has embarked on an ambitious long term programme of development of its public transport systems, with a privileged place for the railway sector (on both urban lines and main lines, including high speed rail projects).
The event was the occasion to, once again, share experiences, pool the members’ respective expertise and charter the regional progress that has been accomplished, as well as forge firm and productive bonds between them.
Two days of plenary and working group sessions (divided in three: CEOs, Marketing & Operations, Technical), to which were added cultural and technical visits, as well as convivial and memorable dinners, allowed the ASEAN Railway Community to gather together for both professional and social activities.
UIC presented its Digital Platform and its Digitalisation Programme during the CEOs working group.
The visit to the Bang Sue Grand Station project site, future masterpiece of the Thailand railway network, with 24 tracks on two platforms dedicated to the Bangkok urban lines, as well as the National SRT lines and the future HSR lines, impressed the delegates with its current state of progress and its global scope. Please consult the official ARCEO’ 41 video, prepared by SRT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6HP8Dk8vVk
See you in Vietnam for the ARCEO’42 in 2020 and in the Philippines for the ARCEO’43 in 2021!
