From 29 July – 1 August 2018, Marc Guigon, Director of the UIC Passenger Department, met the five UIC Chinese members: China Railway Corporation (CR), China Academy of Railway Science (CARS), National Railway Administration (NRA), the University of Transport of Beijing (BJTU) and the University of Transport of South-West in Chengdu (SWJTU).

The main conclusions of these meetings concern the 11th World High-Speed Rail Congress (WHSRC) and the Alliance for Universities.

• The WHSRC will be organised in Beijing in the last week of June 2020 (exact date to be determined)
• The technical visit of the Congress will consist of travelling on the first fully automated high-speed train in the world, which will run at 350 km/h between Beijing and Zhangjiakou from end of 2019
• The slogan of the Congress will be “Augmenting Intelligent Mobility” which will merge High-Speed Rail and its interfaces with other transport modes
• The first scientific and organising committees of the Congress will take place in China at the end of November 2018

Marc Guigon and Prof NING Bin, president of the University of Transport of Beijing and Chair of the Alliance for Universities, agreed on the roadmap of the Alliance (programme for research, regulation of the Alliance…).

SWJTU expressed great interest in being part of the Alliance, and in conducting some projects.