On the occasion of the French Presidency of the European Union, and on the sidelines of the Informal Meeting of Transport ministers, SNCF is organising the EUROPEAN RAILWAY SUMMIT: RAIL, THE DRIVER FOR GREENER AND MORE INNOVATIVE TRANSPORT.
 
This high-level conference will be held in the presence of Adina VALEAN, Commissioner for Transport, Mariya GABRIEL, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Raquel SÁNCHEZ JIMÉNEZ, Spanish Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Jean-Baptiste DJEBBARI, French Minister Delegate for Transport, and Clément BEAUNE, French Minister of State for European Affairs.
 
Building upon intense debates and reflections started during the European Year of Rail, and with innovation as overarching topic, the summit will bring together European and national policy makers, as well as representatives of the civil society and of the rail sector, in order to identify courses of action and concrete commitments around three key topics:
#01 Why is rail the solution to decarbonise transport ?
#02 Digitalisation and innovation: how to build the rail system of the future ?
#03 How to finance tomorrow’s rail system ? 
 
It will also mark the official closing of the European Year of Rail and be the opportunity to launch the Europe’s Rail programme.
 
To make the central theme of innovation at this summit more concrete, an exhibition will be organised close to the conference room to present projects and new technologies under development at SNCF and at European level, around five key axes : Passengers, Operation and driving, Territorial mobility, Decarbonisation, and Industrial management of the rail system. This exhibition will also highlight the Europe's Rail programme.
 
This summit will bring together about 250 people on-site and many more online:  Ministers of Transport of the Member States, representatives of national administrations, the European Commission, European and national parliamentarians, representatives of civil society (researchers and academics, youth and environmental NGOs, SNCF stakeholders), representatives of the rail sector (operators, infrastructure managers, industry, passengers, trade unions), French and European general and specialised press, etc.

The exchanges will be held in French, English and German.