“The railways are the mainstay of a multimodal system“

2018 marked the 10th occasion that Deutsche Bahn extended an invitation to the InnoTrans Rail Leaders’ Summit.

Prominent industry figures discussed ’RAILtropolis – The future of cities is rail’. Opening the summit, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Andreas Scheuer provided a bright outlook: “The mood at the fair is fantastic and the order books are full. Germany is attracting investors.” In her keynote speech, EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc stressed the need for a single European rail transport market with a single ticketing system, while using open data and sharing knowledge. Li Wenxin, vice general manager of China Railway, which by expanding its high-speed routes has increased capacity by 50 per cent, said that train movements in China amounted to 8,000 daily, with 80 per cent of ticket sales now taking place over the internet.

China and Russia are collaborating on expanding rail networks. Chad Edison, deputy secretary for transportation at the California State Transportation Agency, stressed how important it was for local operators to work with each other and with providers of innovative transport. Rail was a very efficient way to utilise urban space. In Silicon Valley, use of public transport had almost trebled over the last three years. Dr. Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn, repeatedly emphasised the need for a common approach: “We need a platform for every form of customer transport. Rail systems are a team effort.”The focus of the tenth Rail Leaders’ Summit was on partnership, expansion and integration with regard to systems and multimodal transport.