IRS12 Rome, Italy
Speakers
Key figures from across the railway spectrum and beyond, including governments, associations, operators, infrastructure owners, solution providers, financial bodies, and independent experts gathered at the 12th International Railway Summit in Rome. The conference provided an opportunity for mobility leaders to share ideas and learn about the latest best practice and innovation.
The theme of the summit was ‘Innovating powering sustainable growth through challenging times’
Conference Chairs
Simon Fletcher
(Conference Chair)
Former Director Europe
International Union of Railways (UIC)
Paolo Guglielminetti
(Conference Co-Chair) - Digital Railway
Partner PwC Italy, Global Railways & Roads Leader
PwC
Speakers
After the victory of the Centre-Right coalition at the General Elections in September 2022, Matteo was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport. He has been Senator of the Republic since March 2018, and held the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior from June 2018 to August 2019. In 2008, he was elected for the first time as a Member of the Italian Parliament and in 2009 as a Member of the European Parliament, where he was re-elected in 2014.
Matteo has been a Member of Lega (the League) since 1990. He has been Federal Secretary of the Party since December 2013. He is a professional journalist.
Michael has served as the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital and Transport since 2021 and Federal Commissioner for Rail Transport since 2022. Previously, he was Lord Mayor of Horb a.N. from 1995 to 2009 and served as a Member of the State parliament of Baden-Württemberg from 2001 to 2009. He was then Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2017 and Member of the German Bundestag since 2017. Michael is a trained journalist and economist (University of Tübingen).
Luigi Ferraris has served as CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane since June 2021.
Among other positions, he has previously served as CEO and General Director of Terna, CFO of Poste Italiane, CEO of Enel Latam and previously Enel Group’s CFO.
Mr. Ferraris holds a degree in Economics and is Professor at the LUISS Guido Carli University of Rome.
Josef DOPPELBAUER joined the Agency in January 2015. His mission is to further consolidate the role and responsibilities of the European Union Agency for Railways to become a world leader in railway safety.
Before leading the Agency, Josef DOPPELBAUER held managerial positions at Bombardier Transportation. Since the early 1990's, he has been involved with the development of the European Rail Transport Management System (ERTMS). From 2012 to 2014, he was chairman of the European Rail Research Advisory Committee (ERRAC), the European technology platform of the rail sector. From 2011 to 2014, he was also the chairman of the Steering Committee of the Joint Technology Initiative Shift2Rail.
Josef Doppelbauer holds a degree and a doctorate, both in Physics. He started his career at the Alcatel Research Centre in Vienna, Austria, where in 1997 he became Technical Director. In 2001, he moved to Paris to become Chief Technical Officer for Alcatel Transport Automation Solutions.
François Davenne graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in 1988 and from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in 1999. Throughout his career, he has consistently promoted interdisciplinarity as a key factor for success. Having gained experience in international satellite telecommunications, he initially held various roles in the housing sector, making use of his strong financial and legal skills. He was involved in policy and regulation of the sector and managed key operational programmes.
Mr. Luigi Corradi is CEO and General Manager of Trenitalia S.p.a. (Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group) since December 2020. Mr. Corradi is graduated in mechanical engineering at the University of Genova, and with an MBA Master from Bocconi in Milan. In 1992, he began his career path at the Navy Arsenal in La Spezia and one year later in Ansaldo Energia. In 2003, he became General Manager of Bombardier Transportation. In 2013, he was appointed CEO and President of Bombardier Transportation Italy. In September 2019 he was appointed CEO and General Manager of Titagarh Firema S.p.a.
Mr Fitch is Head of Rail Safety and Interoperability Unit in the Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility in the European Commission. He is the former Deputy Head of Cabinet of Siim Kallas, Vice-President and Commissioner for Transport where Mr. Fitch is responsible for land transport, security and state aids, inter alia. He was also the coordinator of the White Paper of the Future of Transport. Mr Fitch studied mathematics and law at Cambridge, was a lawyer at Herbert Smith and then moved on to the UK civil service in 1993. He joined the European Commission's Legal Service in 1999. Before joining the cabinet of Mr. Kallas in 2004, he was a Member of Cabinet of Vice-President Kinnock, responsible for Administration.
Vera has been CEO and General Manager of RFI since December 2020. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of Grandi Stazioni Rail SpA, and of Bluferries Srl, both subsidiaries of RFI.
She joined FS Group at the beginning of 2001 as Supervisor for Budget and Control of Investments, and later as RFI’s Supervisor for Planning and Control of Investments. From 2008-December 2020 she served as RFI’s Chief Financial Officer. Amongst other managerial roles, she has previously served as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Brenner Basistunnel BBT SE.
Alberto Mazzola has been CER Executive Director since January 2021, representing its members towards EU policymakers and advocating rail as the backbone of a competitive and sustainable transport system in Europe. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration and Doctorate cum Laude in Nuclear Engineering from Politecnico Milan. His past roles have included Head of International Government Affairs for Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), cabinet member of Italy’s State Holding Minister, adviser to the Romanian Minister of Industry and contributing to the worldwide business section of Leonardo Finmeccanica. Alberto Mazzola is also active in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since 2015.
Eva Kreienkamp has been Chairwoman of the Management Board at the BVG since October 2020. The mathematics graduate studied at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
The manager began her career as a trainee at the start-up Amadeus Data Process in Erding in 1989. Starting in 1991, she worked for ten years at Allianz Versicherung, most recently holding the position of Senior Vice President. After working in other managerial positions in Berlin, Eva Kreienkamp founded her own successful consulting firm. On leaving the company to enter the transport sector, she moved to Hamburg-Köln-Express GmbH and was first CFO, before being appointed CEO. From 2015 she was Managing Director of the Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft, where she was responsible for driving personnel, digitisation, and infrastructure projects
In his role as Spokesman of the Rail Cargo Group’s Board of Directors, Clemens Först is in charge of finances, planning the group functions that oversee Service Design, and the digital transformation of the Rail Cargo Group. He has held CXO positions in the European rail
logistics sector since 2012 and has had many years of experience in logistics on a global scale. As Chairman of the CEO Taskforce of the UIC and CER, Clemens Först plays an active role in increasing the competitiveness of rail freight transport. He is co-founder and Head of
Rail Freight Forward, a trans-European initiative committed to drastically reducing the negative impact of freight transport on the planet and mobility through innovation and a more intelligent transport mix.
Mr. Gianpiero Strisciuglio, 48 y.o., is an italian engineer, appointed CEO and MD, by the Board of Directors, at Mercitalia Logistics Hub of FS Italiane Group Inc., last April.
Having joined FS Italiane Group back in 2002, Mr. Strisciuglio was Chief Commercial and Network Operations Officer at RFI (the Group’s IM), Hub Infrastucture, and Director of High-Speed at Trenitalia, Hub Passenger, before taking on the role of Chief Strategy, Industrial Planning and Innovation&Sustainability Officer at Hub Logistics.
Among other roles Chairman of the Supervisory Board at TX Logistik, Hub Logistics; President and CEO at AFA Ltd. (Alpine Railway service, Torino-IT); Member of the Board at Mercitalia Shunting&Terminal (Hub Logistics), at Alpe Adria Inc., and at FERMERCI (railway sector system association).
A 16-year veteran of the Group Air France-KLM, Vincent Etchebehere began his career in Stockholm as a business intelligence analyst, helping the airline grow its business in Northern Europe. He then worked in Paris then Rome occupying various revenue management positions, and coordinating the partnership with Alitalia. Back in Paris, he was performance manager for Europe and North Africa Area, before becoming chief of staff to the EVP commercial, sales and alliances for the Group. In 2016, he was named General Manager Mexico, and in 2018, General Manager for Canada. He took the position of VP Sustainability and new mobilities for Air France in Jul 2020.
Vincent is also Vice President of A Tree for You association’s Board, a plantation operator that enables individuals and companies to support planting projects around the world
Luca D’Aquila is Chief Operating Officer, Hitachi Rail and CEO at Hitachi Rail in Italy. Luca joined the company in 2010 as Senior VicePresident Chief Financial Officer, Risk Mgmt., IT of the Italian business. Since then he has held the positions of Deputy Global CFO, SVP CFO, Risk Mgmt. & IT, before being promoted to Group CFO, in 2018.
Luca has extensive background in the manufacturing industry, prior to joining Hitachi Rail; Luca worked as Chief Financial Officer at BREDAMENARINIBUS S.P.A. and Head of Corporate Planning & Controlling at FINCANTIERI S.P.A. He holds a degree in Business Economics from Federico II University, Naples, as well as a Masters in Finance and Management Controlling, Rome, 1991.
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi is the CEO of the Ukrzaliznytsia Passenger Company. Having steered the evacuation of refugees and humanitarian aid dispatching in the most crucial moments of the Russian invasion into Ukraine, he has managed to secure more than 4 m Ukrainians, being transported to safety by rail.
Giorgio is responsible for the 1,2Bn€ Europe’s Rail R&I integrated Programme since 2022. He has been supervising as head of R&I the 920M€ R&I Programme of Shift2Rail, since 2015. Before, he was a Senior Corporate advisor at UNIFE, advising on strategic topics and preparing S2R. In 2007, as Senior Technical Manager, he supervised several R&I projects, teams and technical committees. He was also secretary of ERRAC. In 2006, he assisted Mr Paolo Costa, Chairman of Transport Committee of the European Parliament. In 2004 he worked for the European Chamber of Commerce association and the Valle d’Aosta Regional representation office. Prior to that he worked for Procter & Gamble in Rome and for BNP Paribas Cardiff in Paris. He holds an Engineering Degree (Polytechnic of Turin) and a Master Degree in Public Affairs (London South Bank University).
After graduating in Electronic Engineering at Université Polytechnique de Liège (Belgium), Jean Marc joined Alstom in 1990 and took several roles in software design, commissioning and project management for rolling stock, in Belgium and France. In 2002, he moved to the world of signalling and has since been part of the ERTMS adventure. After a time as Site Managing Director in Charleroi (Belgium) from 2010 to 2017, Jean-Marc is now based at Alstom’s headquarter in Paris, where he is leading the Mainline Signalling Platform, shaping global product strategy and ambitious R&D plans, and supporting international bids and projects.
When he is not delivering signalling solutions for networks around in the world, Jean-Marc likes to spend time with his family & friends, to go cycling and jogging, and to read about famous political leaders.
Paolo Pagliero is VP Engineering at Wabtec, a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and value-added services for freight and transit rail. In this role, he has the responsibility of the Engineering Departments developing products and systems for the worldwide Transit railway market and for the European freight market. Native of Italy, Paolo graduated in Aerospace Engineering at “Politecnico” in Turin, one of the leading engineering schools in Italy, and earned a Master in Business Administration at Bocconi University in Milan.
Deputy Mayor for Mobility, 50 years old, lawyer, in March 2018 he was elected for two consecutive terms of office as Regional councillor of Lazio Region for the Italian Democratic Party (PD) and held the position of Chairman of the Regional Commission on Infrastructure, Public Works, Mobility and Transport. From 2006 to 2008 he was Rome’s City Councillor, from 2007 he held the position of head of the Mobility Department of the Lazio Democratic Party (PD) and in 2010 he was elected President of the Rome Democratic Party (PD). From 2002 to 2005 he collaborated with the Councillorship for Mobility of the Municipality of Rome and was Chairman of the City Council Advisory Commission of the non-scheduled public service.
Since the summer of 2006, Marc Billiet leads EU Goods Transport at IRU’s Permanent Delegation to the EU in Brussels. IRU shapes global mobility of goods and people, develops knowledge, builds networks, conducts advocacy and delivers services, bringing together operators, associations, industry suppliers and stakeholders in more than 100 countries. Prior to his current position, Mr Billiet was Head of EU Passenger Transport at IRU. Before joining IRU in 1995, he was Secretary to the European Commission Committee of Enquiry on "Road Freight Transport in the Single European Market". He holds a Masters in oriental languages and in international relations.
Electronic engineer with a PhD in Operations Research (thesis on algorithms for railway traffic optimization), more than 25 years of experience in the Railway sector spent initially in R&D, after in project management and in the last 15 years managing bid & sales activities internationally in Bombardier before he joined Wabtec Electronic Group on January 2019. Alessandro is currently involved in the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking R&D project co-financed by the European Commission as Project Coordinator for the FutuRe project (Future for Regional Lines). FutuRe’s key goal is to develop low-cost innovative solutions for low density railway lines.
Libor Lochman has a long-term experience in the control-command and signaling domain. He has been a member of the ERRI A200 project team, developing the very first set of the ETCS specification in early nineties. Later he covered wider scope of the railway technology when serving as the Director of the largest European rail Test Centre – VUZ in Velim (Czechia). For almost a decade, he acted as a technical manager of ERA related activities on behalf of CER, establishing the competence in coordinating the network of experts across the whole territory of the European Union. Between 2011 and 2020, he has been the Executive Director of CER. In 2021, he has been the project manager of the Connecting Europe Express – the flagship project of the European Year of Rail. Today he works with clients on various rail related topics, from chairing the group for rail passenger market opening at Transport Ministry in Slovakia to acting as ambassador for the digital automatic coupler in Central and South European countries or promoting the increase of low density lines competitiveness through the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking projects.
Vanessa Pérez Miranda is Senior Advisor for the Passenger Department at the UIC (International Union of Railways) and the UIC Latin American Region. She is responsible for the activities related to Rail Tourism, Commuter and Regional Train Services, Customer Experience and Accessibility.
During the Covid-19 pandemic 2020-2022 she has been part of the UIC Covid-19 Task Force Core Team as UIC contact link with the Railway Community and assumed a similar role in the coordination of the UIC Refugee Task Force in 2022.
Bruno Mario Lochbrunner is Innovation Manager in the Corporate Development department of SBB AG, Swiss Federal Railways. In this role, he is responsible for increasing SBB's innovation capabilities. He is also responsible for the Group's Innovation Community Management. Previously, he was responsible for various projects, for example augmented reality projects, which offer employees and customers new possibilities for navigation and orientation. He was also responsible for the parking business at Swiss Federal Railways. Since 2017, he has been in charge of station management and the "Smart Station" project, the goal of which was to make Zurich Central Station the most personalized and digitized mobility hub in the world. Prior to that, he held various positions in the company, where he has worked for over 20 years. Bruno holds several master degrees in business administration and real estate management.
Director of the Sustainable Development Foundation, a not for profit organization based in Rome, funded by more than 130 companies, business associations and experts. Since 2008 The Foundation cooperates with governments, private corporations and institutions through technical studies, research, events and consultancy. Fields of action: climate, energy sustainable mobility, circular economy, natural capital, green cities, company reporting and environmental strategies.
Assistant manager of JR East Corporate Planning Department from October, 2022. Holding a Master of Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Tomoki KUBOSHIMA has held several leading position in railway facility management department in East Japan Railway Company with specialized expertise in railway construction and maintenance.
Ģirts Bramans has gained a vast professional experience in multi-national, multi-cultural and multi-interest environment and now serves as the Head of Strategic Stakeholders and Communication Department at the Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS. He joined the company in charge of this unique mega project in autumn 2016, before that working for 10 years for the Latvian Ministry of Transport, including representing the Latvian interests in the EU as the Transport Counsellor to the Permanent Representation of Latvia to the EU (2008 – 2015). During the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2015, he had the honour to chair the Land Transport Working group and represent the Council in the interinstitutional negotiations on the IV railway package, facilitating agreement reached on its Technical pillar proposals. After completing the diplomatic service, he returned to Latvia and joined the team of Latvian Railways in position in charge of development planning. Girts holds a MBA degree from Riga Business School of Riga Technical University and Bachelor of Social Sciences in International Relations degree from the Riga Stradins University.
Weronika Karbowiak has joined the railway sector in 2010 starting her career in the timetabling department. In 2016 she became the Managing Director of the Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Baltic responsible for the coordination of the infrastructure mangers work and for the development of the Corridor services. In 2022 Weronika Karbowiak was appointed Deputy Director of Strategy Department responsible for foreign relations of the Polish Infrastructure Manager - PLK S.A.
Kristīne Malnača is experienced professional in transport for 25 years. Primary areas of expertise include transport infrastructure system analysis, transport project economic analysis, and transport planning. Mrs. Malnača possesses international experience in a number of transport studies and technical assistance services. As a consultant in transport sector during 2011-2021, she has worked with international financing institutions (EC, EIB, WB), national transport administrations, regional and local municipalities, and industry. Mrs. Malnača joined Rail Baltica project in January 2022 and is a Head of Strategy and Economics department. Mrs. Malnača has acquired Master’s degree in Civil Engineering at Purdue University (USA), studying Transportation Infrastructure Systems.
Aleksander Wołowiec is the Deputy Director of Railway Subprogramme Strategy & Planning, Design & Engineering Department at Centralny Port Komunikacyjny. He is responsible for building relations with internal and external railway stakeholders involved in the CPK Project. He’s also coordinating cooperation with the key organisations of the Polish and European railway sector. Under previous capacities he worked for public administration at national and European level.
Dr. Tobias Jacke studied civil engineering at RWTH Aachen University and completed his studies in 2021 with a doctorate on the subject of "Railway operations optimization of maintenance and renewal management". He has been working at DB Netz AG in the division of planning and segment control since 2021 and is responsible for the further development of the “3-i model” for determining funding requirements as well as the segmentation for prioritization. In 2022, he played a key role in the further development of the network condition note logic and the development of the high-performance network.
Stefan co-founded BCG's global Cybersecurity Practice, leads the CE Cyber Hub and is BCG's global topic leader for Cybersecurity and IT infrastructure. He supports clients in these topics since 2001, covering all continents and industries including insurance, banking, aerospace, media, industrial goods, liquid/solid mining, chemicals, IT, telecommunications, and the public sector. Stefan is also serving as a project advisor to the World Economic Forum on cyber resilience, focusing on Energy/Electricity, Oil & Gas, and the Public Sector.
He holds a PhD in atomic/quantum physics from FU Berlin, the Oak Ridge National Lab and the University of Tennessee in the USA.
VP Sales and Partnerships for GoodMaps, is a proactive and accomplished commercial technology strategist. She is an advocate for transformative and sustainable technology that helps benefit navigation within the built environment. Having worked with GoodMaps since its inception, she helped establish its commercial department to aid in creating awareness of and desire for an open and inclusive society.
Hermann Orth is an expert in railway infrastructure asset management and funding as well as strategic service planning. He can draw from a long experience in consulting and research gained through supporting numerous clients across Europe. His background is in civil engineering, with a PhD in transportation.
Carlo Pacifico, Associate Director, is a core member of the BCG's Travel and Tourism practice and of the Global Rail team. He joined Boston Consulting Group in 2016, after holding senior roles in leading Travel companies.
He has developed significant expertise in the travel and tourism industry, with international experience in multiple sectors including railways, airlines, cruise lines, car rental, travel retail and infrastructure. His work focuses on strategy, commercial excellence, pricing and revenue management and organization.
Carlo led multiple projects globally in the rail sector including infrastructure feasibility studies, market entry strategy, operational readiness and pricing and revenue management transformations. He has a true passion for the rail sector, having a decisive role in sustainable passenger and goods transportation.
Krzysztof Dresler has over 25 years of experience in financial market institutions and Green Energy companies. Currently, he is chairing the development of hydrogen technologies at IMPACT Clean Power Technology - leading manufacturer of battery systems for electric vehicles in the Green Energy Sector.
Transportation consultant with over 20 years’ experience, having undertaken technical, managerial, business development and strategic roles in various companies, including: Ardanuy Ingeniería, InfoGlobal, Lloyd’s Register, Ricardo, Exceltic and Novation Group. Whilst my focus is railways, I have been exposed to other transport modes (including roads, ports, automotive, maritime) and industries, such as: Oil&Gas, Health, Defence and Environmental). Telecommunications engineer by background, with an expert postgraduate course in railway engineering and Executive MBA by EAE Business School.
I currently perform the role of Global Technical Railway Manager in DNV, where we strive to lead transformation of transport systems by delivering value in the form of assurance, advisory and digital services.
Carla is the Solution Architect of Connected Transport at Irdeto. Before joining Irdeto, Carla worked in several positions at Daimler which left her a vast experience in the automotive industry. She has been working on an international setup with projects covering different markets with a focus on LATAM and the EU. She has been specifically working on topics related to connectivity, electromobility and autonomous. Additionally, to her work experience, Carla has a MsC. where she specialized in autonomous driving. Today, Carla is responsible for bringing our customer requirements to our technical team, assuring a perfect fit between our developed products and our customers wishes.
I am Business Development Lead at InstaDeep, Europe's foremost AI tech company with capabilities in AI research and enterprise-grade deployments. We build AI-powered solutions to optimise and automate railway operations.
I am a physicist by training and previously worked for Deutsche Bahn's corporate technology and investments team before joining InstaDeep.
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