6th training on commuter and regional train services

Sakurako Aoki

Sakurako Aoki is Senior Manager JR EAST Paris Office After completing her degree at the Faculty of Law at Waseda University in Tokyo, she achieved a master’s degree in international environmental policy from the Graduate School of Policy and Media Studies at Keio University. During her second year, she specialised in European politics at Sciences Po in Paris.
She started working at JR East in 2013, overseeing tourism development, commercial promotion and the planning and creation of train-based travel products. After moving to the Paris branch in 2020, she took on the role of senior manager in charge of tourism marketing across Europe.

Georgia Ayfantopoulou

Dr. Georgia Ayfantopoulou, Research Director at the Hellenic Institute of Transport (ΗΙΤ) of CERTH with experience for over 25 years in transport systems planning, management and optimization. Always focusing on new technology implementation, as enabler for transforming transport and mobility systems, her work emphases on:
a) ITS, C-ITS for transport demand and traffic management,
b) Big Data analytics and c) modelling and decision support tools for Sustainable Mobility, Multimodality, Intermodality and city logistics.
She is coordinating the Thessaloniki Smart Mobility Living Lab, an ecosystem approach for data sharing, knowledge creation and innovation uptake in mobility, promoting also implementation of Maas applications.

Michael Beckmann

Michael is the Vice President of Rolling Stock at DSB, the Danish State Railways, where he is in charge of the rolling stock fleet and also the company’s railway infrastructure. This includes integration of new rolling stock, disposal of old rolling stock, investment planning and contract management of the maintenance contracts. Before coming to DSB, Michael worked at Bombardier Transportation in various roles, including portfolio head for tram projects and Group Vice President for Strategy.

Michela Cuozzo

Digital marketing consultant in Accenture Song. Along her career in marketing - started in 2016 - she deepened her expertise in social media strategy, working for a wide range of industries, including Travel & Transportation and Public Administration sectors. She collaborates with Trenitalia Regionale to support the brand’s social media project, by supervising brand reputation monitoring and assuring the correct functioning of social care technologies. Graduated in Economy, she then took a master in Marketing Management at LUISS Business School in Rome and a course in International Marketing and Logistics at ESSCA School of Management in Budapest.

Fulvio D’Aloia Cascone

Fulvio is a forward-thinking MaaS strategist with a proven track record of shaping the future of transportation through innovative approaches. With a deep understanding of the interconnected dynamics of transportation, urban planning, and technology, Fulvio has been at the forefront of the MaaS revolution.
Fulvio possesses an in-depth understanding of the MaaS ecosystem, from public transportation and ridesharing to micro-mobility and beyond. Their insights into the interplay between these elements provide a holistic perspective on MaaS development, for big company (i.e. Railways) as well as for newco (i.e. Mobility Providers),
With a finger on the pulse of technology trends, Fulvio explores how emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, and any Digital Solutions are driving MaaS innovation. They’ll share practical insights into leveraging these technologies for a seamless and sustainable mobility experience.
Fulvio is an advocate for a user-centric MaaS approach. His presentation will shed light on how to prioritize the needs of travelers, ensuring convenience, accessibility, and sustainability are at the core of MaaS solutions.
Currently in charge of Travel & Transportation industry for Italy IBM Consulting, Fulvio is involved in the Maas projects and initiatives with hie international team, in Italy and Europe.

Hasan Emre Yücel
H. Emre Yücel has been working for 12 years at TCDD Passenger Departmet at a several different positions. Currently he is Division Manager at Passenger Departmant and head of Business Development Division. After working on commercial strategies, cost analysis, transportation efficiency and passenger tariff development, he has focused on Train Costing and Public Service Obligation Agreements since 2017.

Luc Favre

Luc Favre has been working for 15 years for SNCF exclusively in the passenger rail field (mass-transit, regional and long-distance). He held different positions at both operational and strategic levels. He has assumed managing positions as well as support positions at headquarters. Luc is customer-oriented and focused on improving customer satisfaction.

Fabiano Ferra
Fabiano Ferra is a Senior Manager for Accenture Marketing Operations organization in Italy.
Fabiano’s professional experience has developed in Accenture since 2004 mainly in the Automotive, Travel & Transportation and Public Administration sectors, throughout his career, he has worked with several clients, with extensive experience in business transformation, including operating model change, business process transformation, and large-scale technology implementation.
In the last 10 years he has held various positions in ambitious programs in the Digital Marketing field, with a focus on Digital Sales, Social Media, Content and Campaign management, Performance and Conversion Rate Optimization.
In 2019 he started to work with Trenitalia Regionale for the design and management of the Social channels strategy and the Social Care service implementation.
He earned his degree in Computer Science from the Università degli Studi di Salerno.

Federica Follesa

In Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane - then Trenitalia - since 1998, she is head of PSO (Public Service Obligation)’s contracts, Fares, Terms and Conditions for the Regional Business and Intermodality development Department. She has been involved in many international activities within the UIC and UITP Associations. Currently she is Chairwoman for the Commuter and Regional Train Services group in UIC and member of Urban, Suburban, Regional Railways Committee in UITP.
From 2008 to 2011 she was professor of Transport at the University Sapienza in Rome.
Graduated in Architecture (Urban and regional planning), she studied in the University Sapienza in Rome, the Oxford Brooks University (UK) and the Savaria Urbanisztikai Nyari Egyetem (HU). Then she took the 1st master on Regional Public Transport by Politecnico di Milano and ISFORT and then a master in Economics and Politics of Transport at the University Sapienza in Rome.

Andrea Giuricin

Adj.Prof. Dr. Andrea Giuricin is CEO of TRA consulting, a strategic consultancy company based in Barcelona and Milan with international customers from Europe, Middle East, Asia, America working with the top management (CEO and President) in the strategic and operational decisions.
He created the “studies office” for the CEO of Italo-NTV, the first private high speed rail company in open access competition and he worked in the first HSR markets open to the competition (Italy, South Korea, Spain and France) as strategic and operational consultant for the CEOs and top managers of the Railway companies. He is working with several other project in the rail industry, including rail freight operators and infrastructure managers.
He is senior transport consultant for the World Bank, reforming transport sector in Asia and Africa and for the United Nations. In the last years he was speaker at International Transport Forum of OECD.
He is teaching Transport Economics at University Milano Bicocca in Italy. In the same University he is responsible for the development of transport studies at CESISP – Unimib and he is adj. Prof. at University of Southern California, United States. He is also former visiting professor at China Academy of Railway Sciences, the leader organization in the world for the railway industry. He is also professor at UIC (International Association of Railways).
Dr. Andrea Giuricin cooperates and works with several Transport Authorities (CNMC in Spain, ART in Italy, CMA in UK, LATRA Tanzania, SPAD in Malaysia, RSR in South Africa), with the European Commission and European Railway Agency.

Marc Guigon

Marc Guigon is Passenger Director at UIC (International Union of Railways).
He joined UIC in June 2012 and is responsible for Passengers activities, including development of High-Speed Rail in the world, Railway Stations, Ticket Distribution, Regional and Commuter Train Services and Tourism in Trains.
He is also coordinator of UIC Middle East and Latin-American Regions, involved in the development of railways in these countries, coordinating studies and projects. He is also supporting the coordinator of Asia-Pacific Region.
Prior to joining UIC, Marc worked 7 years for the office of the French Prime Minister, responsible for French national policies of transport in the field of spatial planning including railways, roads, urban transport, airports, ports and waterways. He was also the central point of coordination between the French Central Government and one French Province for all topics concerning spatial planning and development.
He was also responsible of intergovernmental cooperation between France and China on spatial planning.
Lastly, Marc has a solid background in Railway Activities having managed French rolling stock workshops, research teams, and freight departments at the French Railways (SNCF).

Magnus Just Hansen
Director of International Affairs, DSB
Magnus represents the Danish passenger railway operator DSB in different working groups in the Community of European Railways and Infrastructure companies (CER), in the International Union of Railways (UIC) and in the TAP TSI Services Governance Association (TSGA). Furthermore, Magnus has been appointed as the Danish National Contact Point (NCP) for the Telematic Application of Passengers (TAP-TSI).
Completed a master’s in political science from the University of Copenhagen in 2010. After the graduation in 2010 Magnus have worked in the Danish Ministry of Transport and in The Danish Road Directorate. In February 2015 Magnus joined DSB.

Oriol Juncadella-Fortuni

Oriol Juncadella-Fortuni is a Civil Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (class of 1988) and Graduated from IESE in Business Management (Class of 1996), and in Crowd Management from the Tokyo Metro Training School (class of 2018).
Between 1988 and 1990 he was assistant director of the Office of the General Plan of Sabadell City Council, for the development of the mobility plan, the road plan and the economic program.
Since 2011 he has been Director of FGC Operadora. Previously, at Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, he was Director of Operations (2000-2011), Coordinator of the General Technical Secretary (1999-2000), Head of Studies and Programmes (1996-1999), Head of Commercial Development (1993-1996) and Deputy Head of Planning (1990-1993).
Currently he is the representative of FGC in different committees, commissions and various initiatives of the Administration and civil society related to mobility, security, intermodality and accessibility, in its management aspect and with a high content of innovation.
He chairs the Mobility, Transport and Logistics Committee of the College of Civil Engineers in Catalonia.

He is a member of the following international committees:

• UITP Regional and Suburban Railways Committee.
• Committee on Commuter and Regional Rail Services of the UIC.
• ALAMYS Steering Committee

He is a member of the following permanent working groups:

• Observatory of Civic Behaviour in Rail Transport, which coordinates, with representation from all operators of railway and tram systems in Spain.
• Working Group of Experts on Railway Operations, coordinated with the collaboration of the Spanish Railways Foundation
• ATUC Accessibility Working Group
• MoU UITP-International Trade Federation Coordination Group

Teaching:

• Lecturer of the “General Land Transport Course” of the Spanish Railways Foundation, in the module “Operation of regional lines”
• Coordinating lecturer of the subject “Technical Exploitation of Railway Infrastructures” of the “Master in Railway Systems and Electric Traction” of the UPC
• Lecturer of the “Master of Planning and Management of Mobility” of the UPC
• Lecturer of Commuter and Regional train services Training at UIC

Carlos Romero
Carlos Romero is Lecturer in Railway Engineering at the Department of Transport Engineering, Urban and Regional Planning at Technical University of Madrid (UPM), after having completed his PhD on Transportation Engineering in 2022.
His main research line focuses on the service quality and the effects of ICT on the behavior of public transport passengers, with a special interest in urban and suburban rail. He was recognized with the 2021 Young Researcher Award of the Spanish Transport Engineering Forum, the leading transportation association in Spanish academia. He has also worked for the Spanish Metropolitan Mobility Observatory after graduating in Civil Engineering at UPM.
He is also part of the HEAR community of the European University initiative EELISA – European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance.

Monica Rossini

Monica Rossini is market research analyst at Trenitalia. During the last six years, she has worked at the Strategy Department, in the market research and customer satisfaction area.
Her responsibilities consist of collecting and analysing data and information with the goal of incorporating customer needs and experience into Trenitalia’s strategy.
Her background is in economics and management, she graduated at Roma Tre University in Rome.

Nina SCHERF

Senior Legal Advisor, CIT
After studies in law at the University of Mainz (Germany) and Genoa (Italy) Nina Scherf specialised in “International Private and Procedural Law” and “International Public Law” before passing her first and second German State examination in law. In addition, she completed a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) in “Negotiating and designing contracts“.
Ms. Scherf worked at Deutsche Bahn in Frankfurt am Main before joining the CIT in the end of 2014 where she works as Senior Legal Adviser, leading passenger and infrastructure sections.

Roland Schmidt
Roland Schmidt was born 1976 in Berlin and has over 25 years of experience in the railway business.
He finished high school in 1996, did his civil service and started his apprenticeship at Deutsche Bahn AG in 1997, which he finished in 2000 with a degree as a merchant for business administration for rail and road transportation (Kaufmann im Eisenbahnverkehr).
He worked in various positions for Deutsche Bahn AG, before he started his university studies in 2004, which he finished in 2008 as a business economist for tourism (Betriebswirt), together with a bachelor’s degree.
Since then, he has been working for different branches of Deutsche Bahn AG (e.g. DB AutoZug, DB Fernverkehr, DB Regio) in the field of tariffs, pricing and passenger rights. Over the years he became an expert on these topics.
Today he works as a senior expert on tariffs and passenger right in the pricing and cooperations department of DB Regio AG in Frankfurt (Main).

Ernesto Sicilia

London-based since 2016, Ernesto acts as Managing Director of Trenitalia UK Ltd. He has led operations for the company’s entry into the UK rail market when it acquired Essex train operator c2c in February 2017.
In partnership with First Group, Ernesto has led on the winning tender for West Coast Partnership awarded in August 2019 and since December 2019, he sits in the Board of the Joint Venture which manages the Avanti West Coast services connecting London with towns and cities across England, North Wales and Scotland. Since 2021 he serves as UK Country Manager for Ferrovie dello Stato, owning group of Trenitalia.
Ernesto has worked for Ferrovie dello Stato Group since 2001 covering a several different roles. Before leading Trenitalia’s UK branch, he has spent five years as Trenitalia Chief Strategy Officer.
In his career he developed skills in middle/long-term planning, investment evaluation, M&A projects, PSO contracts, market analysis, strategic marketing, digital strategies and sustainability
Recently he also acted as International Business Director of Trenitalia, supporting the launch of high speed services in France and Spain, with core responsibility for integration process of European subsidiaries, covering for multi-markets: France, Germany, Greece, Spain and UK.
Before joining FS Group, Ernesto has worked for ENI, Italian leading energy company, for 10 years, where he has been involved in planning, investment and strategy activities included IPO process.
Ernesto was born in 1963, and graduated in Statistics and Economics at Unversity of Rome, and holds an MBA.

Theodoros Tolias

Present:

• Commercial Director for Passenger Transportation at HELLENIC TRAIN S.A. In railways sector since 2004.
• PSO Contract Manager for Hellenic Train, PSO Committee member
• Chairman of SERG (UIC South-East Europe Railway Group for passengers)
• Member of the Steering Committee at UIC Passenger Services Group (PSG)
• Member of the UIC Task Force for Covid-19 and other Groups of UIC
• Member of CIT, FTE RU Ambassador Passenger Transportation

  Previous experience:

• Superintendent Engineer and Director of Quality and Safety Management Systems in the International Maritime and Shipping
• Plant Director at Food Industry and Logistics
• Freelancer as Mechanical and Marine Engineer
• Software development

  Studies:

• Diploma (MEng) Naval Architect, Marine - Mechanical Engineer
• MBA (HR & Economics)
• MSc in Applied Economics and Finance

Ioanna Tsiaparikou
Ioanna Tsiaparikou is the President of Regulatory Authority for Greek railways since 2017, with multiple responsibilities regarding competition, market regulation, licensing of railway companies, safety, interoperability (National Safety Authority) as well as Passenger Rights (National Enforcement Body).
Graduate of the Department of Economics of the University of Piraeus holds a Master’s degree in International Transport, University of Wales – Cardiff and a PhD, Department of Economics of the University of Piraeus. She was professionally active in both the public and private sectors, assuming positions of responsibility for several years, in the field of maritime transport, social security, health and public administration.
Her scientific work includes the publication of announcements and articles in reputable scientific journals and conferences, her participation in research groups of the University of Piraeus and teaching in higher education, as well as in postgraduate programs, in the subjects of Transport Economics, Human Resource Management, Career Development.

Rui XUE

Rui XUE, a distinguished researcher at the China Academy of Railway Sciences (CARS). Rui has an impressive track record in the realm of technology, particularly within the domains of artificial intelligence. Her work extends to the application of these cutting-edge technologies in the railway sector. Her professional journey, spanning roles at the Big Data and AI Innovation Center and the Infrastructure Inspection Research Institute, underscores her expertise in digital applications and algorithms within the railway industry.