After two years of digital meetings, the members of the UIC Stations Managers Global Group (SMGG) were delighted to meet in Paris on 11 and 12 May for two days of interesting face-to-face exchange and discussion. The event was an opportunity to give the floor to the sector’s Chair Fabrice Morenon (SNCF) and Vice-Chair Paul Van Doninck (Jernhusen), as well as to hold various working group meetings and technical visits to Montparnasse railway station, courtesy of SNCF and AREP.
Attended by 45 participants from 20 companies and representing 15 nationalities, the event opened on 11 May with a working group meeting dedicated to the theme Stations and Urban Design, with a parallel technical visit to Paris’ Montparnasse railway station.
In the afternoon, a second working group meeting was held on the subject of Retail and Commercial Affairs, while the the Station and Urban Design group had the chance to visit Montparnasse station followed by a visit to the AREP office, a multidisciplinary and international architectural practice and subsidiary of SNCF Gares & Connexions, to discuss the design and operational management of railway stations.
On the morning of 12 May, a series of presentations were delivered by a number of speakers on various strategic issues regarding stations. The themes included:
Monitoring Passenger Flows: use cases for stations, networks and airports (Marie Faucon, Smart Flows)
Impact of Homelessness on Railways (Lucie Anderton, UIC Head of Sustainability)
Covid testing in SNCF stations (Cédric Lacour, Loxamed)
Environmental approach as a criterion of acceptability (Christophe Villard, Société du Grand Paris)
Eco-design for railway stations (Isabelle Niess, AREP)
In the afternoon, two hours and of round tables took place to give participants the opportunity to talk about specific themes regarding railway stations, ideas for the future, as well as the challenges and difficulties that need to be overcome. The round tables addressed seven themes, with each session lasting around 30 minutes. The aim of the exchanges was to help the station sector take a clearer position on strategic issues and potentially initiate action in collaboration with other sectors.
The themes included:
Design (led by Christophe Chevallier, AREP)
Retail and Commercial Affairs (led by Carlos Garcia Casado, ADIF)
Accessibility and Tourism Opportunities (led by Vanessa Pérez, UIC Passenger Department)
Security (led by Grigore Havarneanu, UIC Security Division)
Sustainability (led by Lucie Anderton, UIC Sustainability Unit)
Liberalised Market (led by Philippe Lorand, UIC Passenger Department)
UIC thanks all the participants of the SMGG network for the valuable collaboration over the two-day event and for sharing knowledge and information across national boundaries to improve railway stations.
Thanks also go to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and Francesco Dionori for attending and for the collaboration between the two institutions.
Particular thanks are extended to SNCF and AREP for organising the technical visits, which brought real added-value to the SMGG Days.
The next important dates are as follows: a series of small station meetings to work on the UIC Small Station Playbook at the beginning of June and the Facility Management and Operation working group on 10 June.
SMGG members will soon launch the UIC Nextstation Steering Committee to prepare an action plan to select the objectives and characteristics of the next edition.
Finally, save the date for the next SMGG Plenary meeting in Montreal on 28, 29, and 30 September 2022.
