1st TOPRAIL Forum

20 April 2018, Barcelona

What’s TopRail about?

In the context of steadily growing international tourism, TopRail is a UIC project that actively promotes railway tourism products by increasing the visibility of service offerings. This is accomplished by fostering close collaboration between stakeholders and their customers to encourage railway tourism opportunities. Railway tourism is able to offer a wide range of tourism alternatives combining exclusivity, technology, luxury and sustainability whilst contributing to fostering local economies.

Scope (Target audience)

The governance of transportation services requires consensus that is essential for the image of countries as well as the tourism and railway industries. It is crucial to improve communication between stakeholders and promote collaboration on an international level.
The TopRail Forum will address key challenges and new tourism trends to provide an overview of the different dimension of railway tourism projects and services from a sustainable point of view. It intends to put together all the stakeholders in order to raise awareness of this market potential and contribute to the growth of existing and new tourist offers.

The objective of this first TopRail Forum is to bring together Rail or Tourism related industries, operators, institutions and customers to discuss about the business opportunities on the sector regarding Tourism and Railways.
For more information check TopRail website http://toprail.org/

PROGRAM Forum Friday 20 April 2018

Venue: Fira de Barcelona. Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, s/n, 08004 Barcelona, Spain

09:00-09:30 WELCOME SESSION

Pere Calvet, Director General, FGC and President, UITP
Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General, UIC
Enric Ticó i Buxados, President, FGC

09:30-10:30 Keynote speeches

Patricia Defever, CEO, Languages du Sud “Around the world in 80 Tourist Trains”
Peter Haxton, Policy Analyst, Regional Development and Tourism Division (OECD)

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-13:00 PANEL I: SUSTAINABILITY
“How can Rail Tourism contribute to Sustainability on Mature Markets?”

Moderator: Glenn Frommer, CEO and Founder, ESG Matters, IVS

Tim Fairhurst, Director of Policy, ETOA, European Tourism Association (TO)
Fares Ben Cheikh, Head of the Business, Unit for Mainline Services, SNCFT (RU-Tunisia)
Oriol Juncadella I Fortuny, Director of Operations, FGC, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (RU-Spain)
Albert Arias, Head of the strategic plan for tourism 2020, Barcelona City Council (I-Spain)

Round table

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-16:00 PANEL II REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
“Local economies and Tourism by rail, examples of good practices”

Moderator: Ana Garcia Pando, Consultant Expert in Tourism and Regional Development

Manuela Russo, Product Marketing Assistant, Regional Passenger Division, Trenitalia (RU-Italy)
Amador Robles, Renfe’s TopRail representative, Renfe (RU-Spain)
Supinder Singh, President, Palace Tours (TO-USA)
Jörg Ostwald, Chef Market Development, SBB (RU-Switzerland)
Xavier Font, Technical Tourism Office Head, Barcelona Provincial Council (I-Spain
Round table

16:00-16:30 Coffee Break

16:30-18:30 PANEL III HERITAGE PROTECTION
“Rail Heritage, the evolution from a costly asset to an income generator”

Moderator: Carles Casas Esplugas, Head of Strategic Planning and Prospective at FGC

Mark Smith, Director, Heritage Railway Association (I-UK)
Jordi Tresserras, Director, LABPATC, Barcelona University and Advisor for UNESCO (I-Spain)
Luigi Cantamessa, Director, FS Foundation (RU-I-Italy)
Christoph Hinterleitner, Head of pricing and revenue management, ÖBB (RU-Austria)
Alexey Averin, Advisor to the General Director of Russian Railways (RU-Russia)
Round table

18:30-19:00 Closing Session:

The future of the tourism on rails from the Industry point of view, Mr. Wieser, Sales Manager, Stadler Rail
Carles Casas, Head of Strategic Planning and Prospective at FGC and TopRail Chairman

21:00 GALA DINNER
Restaurante Txalaparta (Calle Sants, 146-152)

Technical Visit - Saturday, 21 April 2018

Visit to the new Railway Museum of Catalunya
09:45 Meeting at Barcelona Sants Station (at the customer services office)
10:06-10:44 Train travel from Barcelona to Vilanova
10:44-11:00 Welcome Coffee
11:00-13:00 Visit of the Museum
13:08-13:55 Train travel Vilanova-Barcelona
14:00 End of the programme

Venue

Fira de Barcelona
Hall 5 Palau de Congressos (Room 3)
Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, s/n,
08004 Barcelona, Spain

How to get there http://www.b-travel.com/en/como-llegar

The TopRail Forum will take place within the framework of the B-Travel Salon organized by Fira the Barcelona. More information here http://www.b-travel.com/es/b-travel-pro

Fira de Barcelona is Barcelona’s trade fair institution and one of the most important in the world. Every year, it organizes numerous trade shows and congresses, which bring together leading companies from different economic sectors to showcase their new products, exchange experiences and promote business. More information here http://www.firabarcelona.com/en/home