Past edition

Grampet Group is the largest private rail group in Romania and in South-Eastern Europe. Set up in 1999, Grampet Group includes several companies with activities in all railway sectors, from the transport of goods, rolling stock manufacturing and repairs to logistics management. Grampet Group puts together complex programmes for the development and modernization of member-companies and is responsible for the strategic control of all its divisions. In the past years, the group has extended its activity and currently it provides services in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Promoting a highly competitive level and always focused on its customers’ needs, with a marketshare increasing every year, Grampet Group has become a strong presence in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
In the next period, Grampet Group will expand its activity in the Czech, Slovakian and Greek markets. At the same time, procedures for the establishment of two forwarding companies in Kazakhstan and China have been initiated. In this way, Grampet Group will be able to provide railway transport and logistics services to its customers on the routes linking the North Sea to the Adriatic and Black Sea.

Our field of activity includes a wide range of solutions starting from automation and power supply of railway installations, continuing with the manufacture of rolling stock and expanding to the delivery of railway equipments and development of modern service concepts.

With more than 30 years of experience, voestalpine VAE APCAROM has strengthened its position on the Romanian market, being the only Romanian company which manufactures and supplies turnouts for rail lines and underground lines and a trustworthy partner for trams and companies with individual industrial lines.
Part of a group with highly efficient standards in technology, voestalpine VAE APCAROM has adjusted its technological and manufacturing system to meet the quality and cost effectiveness for its products.
Since the integration to VAE group Austria, in 1998, our company has been delivering turnouts and spare parts for different external markets in Europe, as well as Africa, Asia and America.
The company’s main activity is the production of turnouts. For the second activity field, the production of sleeper screws and vertical screws, voestalpine VAE APCAROM has delivered these products in Europe, Africa, as well as Asia.

Kapsch CarrierCom is a leading, global producer, supplier and systems integrator of end-to-end telematics and telecommunications solutions. The company offers innovative, business and mission-critical products, technologies and services for rail and urban public transport operators, carrier networks and energy supply companies.

Nexans brings energy to life through an extensive range of cables and cabling solutions that deliver increased performance for our customers worldwide. Nexans’ teams are committed to a partnership approach that supports customers in four main business areas: Power transmission and distribution (submarine and land), Energy resources (Oil & Gas, Mining and Renewables), Transportation (Road, Rail, Air, Sea) and Building (Commercial, Residential and Data Centers). Nexans’ strategy is founded on continuous innovation in products, solutions and services, employee development, customer training and the introduction of safe, low -environmental- impact industrial processes.
In 2013, Nexans became the first cable player to create a Foundation to introduce sustained initiatives for access to energy for disadvantaged communities worldwide.
We have an industrial presence in 40 countries and commercial activities worldwide, employing close to 26,000 people and generating sales in 2015 of 6.2 billion euros. Nexans is listed on NYSE Euronext Paris, compartment A.

Stadler Rail Group is one of the leading rolling stock manufacturer of customer-specific solutions for rail vehicles.
The workforce totals over 7000 employees dedicated to the production of such well-known vehicles as the single-decker and double-decker multiple-unit, the gtw articulated multiple-unit, the variobahn, tango, citylink and tramlink tramways, as well as the newly developed metro and ec250 high-speed train.
Stadler also specialises in the manufacture of passenger coaches and sleepers, locomotives, and is the world’s leading manufacturer of rack-and-pinion rail vehicles.

A firm of engineering consultants which is closely involved in the very complex procedures to furnish safety proofs, verification and homologation for the rolling stock troughout Europe. Our aim is a safe, reliable and economic railway system.

Alfred Net is a Romanian company established in 2004, ISO9001 and ISO27001 certified, that is acting as systems integrator and solutions provider for the following domains: security & intelligence, telephony & telecommunications, ITS – intelligent transportation systems and Digital Signage.

ASTRA Vagoane Calatori was founded in 1891 and has an uninterrupted activity of design, production and trade in the rolling stock industry. ASTRA produces a wide range of components and parts for rail vehicles: bodyshells, doors, windows, electric cabinets. ASTRA also performs maintenance for its end customers, a service required by an increasing number of rail operators. Made by an expert, the maintenance done by ASTRA allows an increased reliability and availability of the fleet. Design, engineering, new projects and solutions are elaborated in its own Research & Design & Engineering center.

Atelierele CFR Grivita S.A is a company with a long history in passenger coach repairs, modernization and rebuilding. The plant has been established in 1897 and was specialized in steam engines and passenger coach repairs. Over the years we have improved our technology and expertise, achieving a present top position among coach repair companies, covering home and international passenger coaches with special regime, sleeping coaches, restaurant coaches, saloon coaches, historic trains and administrative staff coaches.

Grup Feroviar Român S.A. is an integrally private company. Its main object of activity is the provision of freight railway transport services and services related to railway transport. Our registered results, our potential and our availability, our own fleet of wagons and locomotives, our transport, maintenance and repair capacities are destined to guarantee secure and quality services and they recommend our company as one of the most important railway operators in Romania.

ISAF S.A. is a company specialized in the field of manufacturing and mounting of railway installations and equipments, for electrified railway and urban transport, as follows: automation, signalling, telecommunications, radiocommunications and high voltage installations.

Oscar Downstream is the largest independent oil&gas company on the Romanian market, dedicated to corporate customers. Our business solutions cover all distribution channels: inhouse fuelling stations, fuel cards, wholesale deliveries, creating an integrated logistics and commercial picture customized for each industry and client.

Our mission is to “keep the locomotives on the tracks” and thus to facilitate the development of the rail transports in the most optimal conditions, meeting the highest standards in this field. We have highly skilled, professional, determined staff and most importantly, a real passion for locomotives. This passion keeps us focused on achieving our goals by using the most innovative and newest technologies in the field in order to meet the most complex and customized requirements.

Grup Feroviar Român S.A. is an integrally private company. Its main object of activity is the provision of freight railway transport services and services related to railway transport. Our registered results, our potential and our availability, our own fleet of wagons and locomotives, our transport, maintenance and repair capacities are destined to guarantee secure and quality services and they recommend our company as one of the most important railway operators in Romania.

ISAF S.A. is a company specialized in the field of manufacturing and mounting of railway installations and equipments, for electrified railway and urban transport, as follows: automation, signalling, telecommunications, radiocommunications and high voltage installations.

Oscar Downstream is the largest independent oil&gas company on the Romanian market, dedicated to corporate customers. Our business solutions cover all distribution channels: inhouse fuelling stations, fuel cards, wholesale deliveries, creating an integrated logistics and commercial picture customized for each industry and client.

Our mission is to “keep the locomotives on the tracks” and thus to facilitate the development of the rail transports in the most optimal conditions, meeting the highest standards in this field. We have highly skilled, professional, determined staff and most importantly, a real passion for locomotives. This passion keeps us focused on achieving our goals by using the most innovative and newest technologies in the field in order to meet the most complex and customized requirements.

Cesi Automation provides solutions for motor drives, electric and automation of industrial processes. We are also developing embedded software programs for different applications.
The company has it’s own departments for specific activities: marketing, research, design, manufacturing, commissioning and service.
The products and services offered by Cesi Automation address customers from: industry, energy, mining, electric traction (urban and railway), cement, water and heating, drilling, Mining, etc.
Electrical and electronic components of the highest quality and flexibility of the management systems, display and diagnostics, provide products of very high reliability and provide customers with low prices and confidence that they chose a good supplier.

EXIMPROD is a Romanian group of companies focusing most of its activities in the energy sector. The main company in the group, Eximprod Grup SRL was founded in 1994 as a privately-held and operated stock company. Its headquarters are in Buzãu. Eximprod Grup’s major timeline milestones find a correspondent in our turnover evolution and employee numbers. Over the years, Eximprod has continuously invested and developed new business areas leading to an increasingly important hold of market share.

Electroputere VFU S.A. Pascani – design, manufacture, modernization and repairing of freight and passenger coaches, as well as manufacture of spare parts for coaches

With more than 100 years experience, FCC Construcción is the infrastructure division of FCC Group, an international leader in, the international environmental services, water management and construction.
FCC Construcción is listed as one of the top fifteen construction companies in the world.
Its activities span the breadth of the engineering and construction sectors, and it is a company of reference for civil works (roads, railways, airports, hydraulic and marine works, tunnels and bridges), as well as residential and non-residential building works on hospitals, football stadiums, museums and offices.
FCC Construcción has a proven track record in delivering concession projects. Under the umbrella of FCC Industrial, it also has a group of subsidiary companies that specialise in the industrial and energy sector works, as well as other activities connected to the construction sector.

Grup Feroviar Român S.A. is an integrally private company. Its main object of activity is the provision of freight railway transport services and services related to railway transport. Our registered results, our potential and our availability, our own fleet of wagons and locomotives, our transport, maintenance and repair capacities are destined to guarantee secure and quality services and they recommend our company as one of the most important railway operators in Romania.

ISAF S.A. is a company specialized in the field of manufacturing and mounting of railway installations and equipments, for electrified railway and urban transport, as follows: automation, signalling, telecommunications, radiocommunications and high voltage installations.

Oscar Downstream is the largest independent oil&gas company on the Romanian market, dedicated to corporate customers. Our business solutions cover all distribution channels: inhouse fuelling stations, fuel cards, wholesale deliveries, creating an integrated logistics and commercial picture customized for each industry and client.

Our mission is to “keep the locomotives on the tracks” and thus to facilitate the development of the rail transports in the most optimal conditions, meeting the highest standards in this field. We have highly skilled, professional, determined staff and most importantly, a real passion for locomotives. This passion keeps us focused on achieving our goals by using the most innovative and newest technologies in the field in order to meet the most complex and customized requirements.

REVA Simeria is a member of Grampet Group and it was established in 1869, having a long tradition in repairing rolling stock. The company holds specific units and workshops: assembly units, hammer and spring shop, mechanical processing, tool shop, chemical analysis laboratory, metrological laboratory, END laboratory, etc., specialised technologies and staff.

Romkatel was founded in Bucharest in 1994 as the unique representant for Romania and Eastern Europe of the German antenna producer- Kathrein Werke KG. Romkatel is an important company in Romania, being the main supplier of broadcast and mobile communications antennas on the market. In addition to its commercial activity, Romkatel also installs antenna systems and equipment for broadcast, CATV & SMATV networks and mobile communications.

Ronside Steel performs a series of specific railways works including: construction, repair, maintenance of power lines, bridges and railroads consolidations. Ronside Steel is proud of the accomplishments of its employees who have chosen to put their skills and experience in the execution of construction works such as bridges, viaducts, overpasses, steel structures.

SPIACT CRAIOVA is a company operating in the field of railway industrial production, equipment, centralization and remote control, whose products, services and works are designed mainly for the railway infrastructure.
Our mission is to offer security in railway transport by producing supervision and tracking equipment for train, which correspond to the compulsory standards of circulation on the railway track, also in the respect of protecting the environment.

Vossloh is a leading global rail technology company. Rail infrastructure is the core business of the Group. We offer our customers throughout the world integrated solutions from a single source. We make an important contribution to the mobility of people and the transport of commodities – safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly.

ÜNTEL KABLO is one of the leading cable manufacturers in Europe, with its modern, innovator, high technology factory and has been established in 1972 to manufacture specialty rubber and PVC cables. ÜNTEL KABLO, provides solutions by evaluating customer demands and expectations according to target country’s standards and requirements, and has approximately 150 blue and 35 white collar workers. Not only focusing on standard quality, ÜNTEL KABLO also researches and develops its products to get better quality result and customer satisfaction. That’s why ÜNTEL KABLO is the leading producer in its sector and influences other manufacturers.

Wiebe România SRL is registered as Romanian legal person since 2003 as subsidiary of the German holding H.F. Wiebe GmbH & Co.KG. Wiebe România has constantly consolidated its position in the market of railway and tram infrastructure constructions and civil engineering. The perserverence, professionalism and experience of the staff has encountered a fertile expression environment in the technological environment promoted by the company’s management policy.

Due to a continuous experience of almost 80 years in railroad construction, SWIETELSKY became one of the leading railway contruction companies in Europe. In railway sector, SWIETELSKY provides civil construction services related to railway buildings, metro construction-special civil and underground engineering, municipal underground construction, civil and underground construction.

Vossloh is a leading global rail technology company. Rail infrastructure is the core business of the Group. We offer our customers throughout the world integrated solutions from a single source. We make an important contribution to the mobility of people and the transport of commodities – safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly.

ÜNTEL KABLO is one of the leading cable manufacturers in Europe, with its modern, innovator, high technology factory and has been established in 1972 to manufacture specialty rubber and PVC cables. ÜNTEL KABLO, provides solutions by evaluating customer demands and expectations according to target country’s standards and requirements, and has approximately 150 blue and 35 white collar workers. Not only focusing on standard quality, ÜNTEL KABLO also researches and develops its products to get better quality result and customer satisfaction. That’s why ÜNTEL KABLO is the leading producer in its sector and influences other manufacturers.

Wiebe România SRL is registered as Romanian legal person since 2003 as subsidiary of the German holding H.F. Wiebe GmbH & Co.KG. Wiebe România has constantly consolidated its position in the market of railway and tram infrastructure constructions and civil engineering. The perserverence, professionalism and experience of the staff has encountered a fertile expression environment in the technological environment promoted by the company’s management policy.

A graduate of the Ecole Centrale Paris, he worked at the French Foreign Trade Delegation to Hong Kong (1977-1978) before joining French railways SNCF in 1978, where he held various responsibilities including Director of the SNCF General Delegation in North-America and Chief Executive of French Railways UK Ltd in Britain. He then joined the SNCF Freight Department where he successively managed the Coal-Steel Business Unit and the Human Resources, Data Processing and Finance Department before being appointed Chief Executive of SNCF Freight International (2001) and from 2001 to 2009 Chairman and CEO of SNCF International and SNCF Director of International Development. In March 2009, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux was appointed Director- General of the International Union of Railways (UIC), the worldwide association representing the rail sector and encompassing 200 railways across all the continents. Jean-Pierre Loubinoux has been awarded the Legion of Honour and is a holder of the Silver Medal of the French Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Tourism. In September 2011, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux received his insignia as Commander of the French National Order of Merit – one of the highest decorations in France along with the Legion of Honour.

His professional experience, accumulated in his over 20 years of activity in fields such as management, railway business development, project management and implementation, research or academic, have allowed him to have representative positions in private or state companies in Romania and Europe, in the railway industry and operation field.
He was responsible, individually or in complex teams, for strategies of procurement, restructuring, market repositioning or integration in the structure demanded by the shareholders or the tutelary authority of companies such as: Romvag S.A (Romania), Karsdorfer Eisenbahn – KEG (Private Railway from Germany), Autoritatea Feroviară Română (AFER).
He created, developed and managed railway engineering companies such as Forschung Mess-und Daten-Technik Zentrum (Germany) and Sistematic Engineering (Romania), and represented the Romanian Railway Company in the Managing Board for Applied Research and Drafting of International Railway Norms within the European Railway Research Institute – ERRI (the Netherlands) – the Research Body of UIC (International Railway Union).
In February 2015 he was selected after an international procedure as Board Member and CEO of the Romanian Railway Company -CFR SA.
In August 2015 he was proposed as vice-president of Community of European Railways -CER
From November 17 until the 7th of July he was the Romanian Minister of Transport.

Mr. Robson is a time-served railway man having worked in the industry for 39 years. During this time he has held various senior positions both in the UK and in Europe including that of Secretary General of the European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM). In the UK Michael Robson has experience of working at a senior level in an integrated railway, British Rail, a private stock market listed infrastructure company, Railtrack, and a company limited by guarantee and privately financed, Network Rail, where he was responsible for developing and implementing the Network Rail policy on European issues.
During his 7 years working in Europe, he gained an excellent knowledge of how the European institutions work along with developing an excellent network of contacts. He was on the Board of the European Railway Agency (ERA) where he was involved in developing the strategy of the ERA and in reviewing the progress of the development of TSIs. During his career, he has been involved in Operations, Performance, Timetabling, and Contract Management, Asset Management, Funding, Technical Specification of Interoperability (TSI), Passenger and Freight Marketing and other retail activities in addition to the usual General Management and Project work. Michael Robson is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Transport & Logistics and the Institute of Management.

In 1994, he graduated from the “Politehnica” Bucharest, Faculty of Transport, Section Rolling Stock, and had a diploma in mechanical engineering. Marius Chiper has began his activity as locomotive engineer in former SNCFR in 1994, and he had an technical evolution as Technical Inspector at AFER, Chief of Railway Division at an private Railway Undertaking, Project manager and Chief of Project Management Unit at CFR. Currently he is General Manager of CFR SA

Mr. Marin ALDEA was born on 19 August 1965. He has graduated from the Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering of Politehnica University of Bucharest and from the Faculty of Finance and Accounting of Athenaeum University of Bucharest. He holds a master’s degree in the Management of public services companies from the Faculty of Commerce of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. He has worked from 1989, as Technological engineer, with a couple of state companies (Lathe Plant, Târgovişte and the Institute of Research and Design for Manufacturing Technologies “Chema Proiect S.A.”, Bucharest), and from 1991 with METROREX S.A., as Senior Engineer, Head of Planning – Strategy Department, Management of Operations Director, Strategy, Planning and Resources Director.
As of December 2015, he is General Director of METROREX S.A.

Lord Tony Berkeley is President of the European Rail Freight Association, is also the spokesperson for the House of Rail, the wider grouping of rail freight interests including F&L, IBS and UIP, who all support rail liberalisation and competition as being good for customers and leading to growth in rail freight.
Based in London, he is also chairman of the Rail Freight Group, the representative body of the UK rail freight industry, which has worked to enable rail freight to grow alongside passenger traffic on the UK’s crowded rail freight network, who now six independent rail freight train operators.
Tony Berkeley sits in the UK House of Lords and was an opposition Transport Spokesperson 1996-7. He is Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Rail Group and of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.
He is a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport and Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was Public Affairs Manager of Eurotunnel from 1981 until the end of construction of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 and, before that, worked for George Wimpey on a number of multi-discipline projects around the world.
He is President of the UK Marine Pilots Association and a Harbour Commissioner for the port of Fowey in Cornwall.

Mr. Philippe Citroën joined UNIFE in June 2011. He began his career as Transport Advisor at the French Permanent Representation to the EU in 1986 and then became Member of the Cabinet of the French Transport Minister in 1990. In 1993 he became Manager and Chief of Staff at RATP Paris, and joined the SNCF as Strategy Director in 1999. Prior to assuming his position at UNIFE, he served for 8 years as CEO of Systra, one of the world’s leading public transport engineering companies.
Mr Citroën is a graduate of Paris II University in Public Law, holds a Diploma from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) and also studied at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), where he also lectured about Rail and Urban Transport.

Mihai Bărcănescu has been working in UITP since 2012 as Project Manager. He has a background in European Politics – a BA from the Bucharest University and an MA from the Institute of European Studies – ULB. In addition, he has acquired a very good understanding of the transport sector during his previous positions in other Brussels-based European organizations and consultancies (UNIFE, Kellen Europe). He is currently working on EU-funded projects in the fields of rail transport and transport security.

Mr Joan Amorós holds a doctorate in Civil Engineering and has authored several books. Mr Amorós is the former President of the NISSAN Distribution Service in Barcelona. Beside his role as Secretary General at Ferrmed, Mr Amorós is also Adviser to the Board of AutoTerminal, a member of the board of Logistica Y Transporte Ferroviario and a member of the Executive Committee of the Barcelona Logistics Center and the Promoter of the Project “R+D+4i”.

With more than 23 years of overall experience as an International Executive, Mr. Mihuţ is, since April 2016, General Manager of CFR Marfa, the Romanian national operator that performs its activity on the whole railway network., offering the following services:
• domestic and international rail transport
• intermodal transport
• transport logistics
• rolling stock leasing
• rolling stock maintenance and repairs

In 1989, Mr. Dragu graduated from the Polytechnics University Bucharest, TCM, section Machines-Tools. During 1990-1997, he worked at SC FAUR SA, in the field of locomotive manufacturing, modernisation of V3A trams and he was in charge of the technological locomotive design service.
Since 1997, Nicolae Dragu has been working at Alstom SA, having various responsibilities and being involved in projects such as: modernisation DHL 1250 locomotives for CFR Călători, manufacture of subassemblies for new locomotives, modernisation of 100 passenger cars for CFR Călători, underground rolling stock maintenance for Metrorex, development of investment programmes. Nicolae Dragu has been Business Development Manager at Alstom SA since 2006.

After working 5 years at SNCFR, in 1999 he joined the team of inspectors at the Romanian Railway Authority – AFER, in the field of railway safety. He militated for the implementation of the European regulation framework in the Romanian legislation and the creation of the adequate institutional support structure. After having worked in the private sector, where he contributed to the promotion of railway transport and the opportunities provided by the Romanian market at international level, in 2009 he became, once again, director of OIFR. Currently he is General Director – AFER

After graduating from the Business Academy in Vienna, he started his railway career at ÖBB Infrastruktur Betrieb AG (now ÖBB Infrastruktur AG) in 2006. After a first year as a station master, he was Key Account Manager at Network Access from 2007 until 2014. Besides coordinating national and international paths he was involved in two projects: ‘Euro 2008’ (planning of timetables and related measures during the European Football Championship 2008) and ‘Liberalisation of passenger traffic’.
In 2014 he became RNE’s Sales and Timetabling Manager and chairman of the RNE Sales & Timetabling Working Group, which develops and implements international processes in line with RNE objectives. Having brought several projects to a successful conclusion, he currently leads the ‘Redesign of the international timetabling process’ (TTR), whose ambition is to reform international timetabling jointly with FTE (Forum Train Europe) and with the support of ERFA (European Rail Freight Association).

After graduating from the Business Academy in Vienna, he started his railway career at ÖBB Infrastruktur Betrieb AG (now ÖBB Infrastruktur AG) in 2006. After a first year as a station master, he was Key Account Manager at Network Access from 2007 until 2014. Besides coordinating national and international paths he was involved in two projects: ‘Euro 2008’ (planning of timetables and related measures during the European Football Championship 2008) and ‘Liberalisation of passenger traffic’.
In 2014 he became RNE’s Sales and Timetabling Manager and chairman of the RNE Sales & Timetabling Working Group, which develops and implements international processes in line with RNE objectives. Having brought several projects to a successful conclusion, he currently leads the ‘Redesign of the international timetabling process’ (TTR), whose ambition is to reform international timetabling jointly with FTE (Forum Train Europe) and with the support of ERFA (European Rail Freight Association).

Mr. Libor Lochman has been Executive Director of CER since 1st January 2012. Libor Lochman, born in 1963 in Czechoslovakia, graduated from the Transport University in Zilina and has a doctorate in electronics from the West-Bohemian University Plzen. He has a strong background in Control-Command and signalling systems. Prior to his role as CER Deputy Executive Director and leader of technical affairs (2007-2011), he acted as director of the Railway Test Centre, a facility for testing European rolling stock, infrastructure and signalling components, in Prague (2000-2005).

Mrs. Price is Manager, European Affairs, for the International Union of the Wagon Keepers (UIP), where she deals with the relations with the European Commission, European Parliament, European Railway Agency and the media, influences technical and policy decision-making at Sector and European Levels, and develops strategies for policy and research for freight rail industry and rail transport in general.
She holds a PhD in Trans-European Networks – Transport Cohesion of the High-Speed Rail Network in South-West Europe from the University of Oxford, Transport Studies Unit, School of Geography and the Environment. She was a stagiaire at the European Commission, DGTREN (now DG MOVE), Unit Intermodality and Logistics Brussels, Belgium where she worked on the following Dossiers: Consultation Paper on Security in International Transport, Intermodal Loading Unit, Freight Integrator, Marco Polo Programme, INTERMODA Project.

Graduated in Modern Languages at Oxford University 1969 and awarded Post Graduate Certificate in Education at Leeds University in 1970. Worked as teacher 1970 – 1987 and then as civil servant in what is now Department of Work & Pensions, until retiring in 2011. Commuted to work by rail for a total of 24 years. Active in campaigns for better public transport since early 1970. General Secretary of Railway Development Society (now Railfuture) 1986 – 2001. Member of Railfuture Board 2006-2013. Chairman of European Passengers’ Federation since 2002, currently it’s President. Long experience in dialogue with transport professionals and political decision-makers, has organised conferences and events and written to edited many publications.

Mrs. Carmen Filipescu, currently Director of International Affairs Regiotrans, graduated from Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, Faculty of Transport and has extensive experience in rail passenger transport, mainly in commercial/ international law. During her activity at CFR Calatori, Mrs. Carmen Filipescu held several management positions both within the company and within international professional organisations to which CFR Calatori is a full member, such as: Director of International Affairs, Deputy Director General, Director of International Affairs and External Financing. She is Representative in the European/ World General Assembly and the Passenger Forum of International Union of Railways (UIC) and Representative of CER (European Community of Railway Undertakings and Infrastructure Managers) at level of “Assistants” and “General Directors”.
Since 2000 Carmen Filipescu is Vice President of CIV Commission of Passenger Transport Law to the International Committee of Transport (CIT) and since 2008 she is President of SERG (South East European Group of UIC) – Rail Passenger Activity.

Mr. Szentes graduated in 1989 from the Faculty of Transports – Department of Transport Technology and Railway Remote Operations of the University Politehnica of Bucharest. He also completed several post-graduate classes, has a master’s degree in Project Management at SNSPA Bucharest and a PhD in Transports Engineering.
He held various positions at the Romanian National Railways Company – the Regional Division of Brașov and at the National Railway Training and Qualification Centre – CENAFER among which: project manager, expert-trainer, manager of CCIPTFT Centre CENAFER Brașov. Since 2012 he has been part of SNTFC “CFR Călători” SA where he has held positions such as: operations manager, international and institutional relations manager, consultant and member of the board of directors. Currently Iosif Szentes is the general manager of SNTFC “CFR Călători” S.A.

Mr. Buciuman has graduated from the Faculty of Transport, section of Railway Remote Control, 1977, University of Polytechnics in Bucharest and from the Faculty of Economic Sciences, section of Finances-Accounting, 1997, “Babeş-Bolyai” University in Cluj- Napoca.
He worked as Engineer in Signalling Centralization Blocking, Head of Centralisation Remote Control Department, Installation Manager CFR SA (1998-2000, 2003-2005) and Service Manager AFER (2001-2003, 2005-2009). Since 2009 until 2012 he has been Executive Manager AFER and since 2012 he has been occupying the position of Scientific Secretary within the same company. He represented CFR SA at UIC for the projects on interoperability. He was Associate Professor at the Technical University in Cluj- Napoca in 1992/1993 and 1993/1994 and professor at the Polytechnics University in Bucharest since 1999, where he introduced the classes Track control elements and the operation of railway remote control equipments and transport management. Ioan Buciuman elaborated several technical and scientific works on railway remote control and railway transport management and published speciality books in 1983, 1988, 2002 and 2008. In 2006, he obtained his PhD from the Polytechnics University in Bucharest, with the thesis “Contributions to the modernization and maintenance of the command-control-signalling installations in Romania in view of achieving the interoperability in the Trans- European railway transport”.

Mr. Casullo joined the International Transport Forum in 2015 to contribute the OECD’s programme of research and policy analysis – with a specific focus on rail transport. His background is in economics; he holds an MA from Cambridge University and an MSc from City University in London, where he specialized in economic regulation and competition. Prior to that, he was Senior Consultant at Steer Davies Gleave in London. As a consultant, he advised local, national and international institutions on issues of transport policy and regulation. He was heavily involved in the impact assessment of the Fourth Railway Package, working with DG MOVE and stakeholders across the EU, as well as regulatory measures relating to ERTMS and the review of track access charges regimes. He has also worked on the development of transport-led strategies such as ‘Midlands Connect’ and ‘Transport for the North’ in the UK, and has contributed to the analysis of traffic trends on road and rail concessions worldwide. Lorenzo held consultancy and advisory roles with the United Nations on issues of climate change, urban development and youth participation. At the OECD, Lorenzo has worked on the evaluation of efficiency measures in rail markets, including the analysis of impacts from open access competition. He has also contributed to the competition assessment of Romania’s rail freight market. He is currently advising the Chilean government on the formulation of their long-term infrastructure strategy.

Mr. Takahashi joined the Japanese National Railways in April 1985 and East Japan Railway Company in April 1987. His experience in JR East is mainly in the administrative and international divisions. He has assumed the position of Executive Director at the Brussels Branch in February 2013.

Trained as a lawyer, he has held several senior positions within the railway industry over the past twenty years. He completed his studies in law at the University of Bern and was admitted to the bar in 1987. He worked from 1987 until 1989 as a clerk in the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Bern and from 1989 until 1991 as an independent lawyer in Bern. He then joined the Swiss Ministry of Transport as Head of the Legal Section of the Federal Office of Transport. In this position, he was involved in a senior capacity in the Swiss rail reform, which came into force in 1999 and played a major role on the success of public transport in Switzerland. In 2002, he moved from being a regulator to being an operator and was appointed to the position of Head of the Group Legal Department at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). In 2008, he was made Head of the “Regulation and International Affairs” Division. In this position, he was responsible for representing the interests of SBB at European institutions and for the company’s regulatory strategy. In November 2011, he was elected by the CIT General Assembly as the new Secretary General and assumed his new duties at the beginning of 2012. Cesare Brand is well connected internationally and has excellent relationships with the international railways organisations and the European and Swiss institutions.

In 1991, Mr. Alexandrescu graduated from “Politehnica” University of Bucharest, Faculty of Transports – Rolling Stock. Mr. Alexandrescu’s professional experience includes: Engineer in the Production Department for VAE APCAROM from 1991 to 1992, Engineer in the Production of Turnouts for VAE APCAROM from 1992 to 1996, Engineer in the Maintenance Department from 1996 to 1997, Engineer in Work Protection for VAE APCAROM from 1997 to 1998, Engineer in the Design Department for VAE APCAROM from 1998 to 1999, Engineer in the Quality Management Department for VAE APCAROM and Head of Quality Management for the same company from 1999 to 2006. He currently is Quality Manager for VAE APCAROM.

His technical experience spans over 20 years in aviation and railway industry. For 8 years he was a teacher for transportation topics; 9 years in the aviation industry where he held several possitions, Innovation Management/Business Development, Corporate Development, Consulting for Airlines and Airports worldwide, Route Development/Strategy, Market Research; 11 years in the railway industry, where he held different positions, Political Affairs (National and International), Project, Quality and Risk Management, Support/ Process-Management, Strategy Development. Currently he is Head of International Affairs at BLS.

Mr. Peter Schneyder is founder and general manager of PAN PLAN consulting group based in Vienna, Austria. As a strategic planner his specific expertise with railway issues is concentrated on network concepts, comprising definition of capacity requirements and optimisation of alignments. Structuring and implementation of various financing models is an additional working area.

Mr. Stanciu graduated from the University of Polytechnics in Bucharest, Faculty of Transport, Railway Rolling Stock Department and has MA in Business, at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Faculty of Commerce. After graduating from the university, he worked in the railway industry, where he advanced from a simple engineer to head of locomotive depot, which enabled him to accumulate a rich experience, both theoretical and especially in practice regarding the operation and the current problems of railway operators.
Starting with 2002, he was project manager within Siemens Romania, for the already famous project “The Blue Arrow” (120 Desiro units delivered by Siemens to SNTFC CFR Călători SA). His responsabilities included the reception, delivery, management and guarantee service activities, the supervision of train assembling process at the local partner, as spare parts delivery in the guarantee period and afterwards.
Presently, Mr. Stanciu is MLT & UT Division Director at Siemens Romania, being responsible for the business development in the field of locomotives, trams, trains and underground trains sales, as well as for all adjacent sectors related to these fields of activity.

Frank Jost joined the EU services in 1996, where he has been working as policy officer for rail market opening since 2004, in particular economic aspects of rail transport. Infrastructure usage charges, the accession of the West Balkan States, the economic readjustment of debt distressed States belong to his most important dossiers. As chairman of a working group of transport ministry officials he seeks to support the accession process of these States in the rail sector. Previous stages at the Commission involved him in road safety and economics of road transport.

His scientific career started in 2002 when he joined the Institute for Railway Engineering at Vienna University of Technology. In 2005 he graduated as a Ph.D. by submission of his thesis “Choice of Location for Wayside Train Monitoring Systems”. He was involved in several studies for Infra Managers to cover their network by WTMS in a safe and economic way. Finally he became a Docent for the area of railway operation in 2011. Moreover he carried out many studies by simulation of railway operation to compare headways between conventional signalling and the new European Train Control System (ETCS).