An Organisation meeting was held on 26 November at Moroccan Railways Headquarters in Rabat to set the general framework for the organisation of NEXT STATION, the 5th international conference on Railway Stations that will succeed the successful 4th edition held in October 2013 in Moscow. This Organisation meeting was attended on behalf of ONCF by Mr Said Chandid, Director of Strategy and Communications and Advisor to the UIC African Region Chairman Mohammed Rabie Khlie, Mrs Najiba Tarachte, Head of Communications and Public Relations, Mr Mohamed Chahid, Director of development of ONCF Heritage and Assets, Mr Tewik Bouarif, Passenger Commercial Department, and on behalf of UIC by Mr Inaki Barron, Director of Passenger and High Speed, chairman of the NEXT STATION conference Organising Committee, and Paul Véron, UIC Director of Communications.

The main objective consisted in fixing the organisational framework for the 5th international NEXT STATION conference that will be held from 21 – 22 October in Marrakech and distributing the responsibilities between UIC and Moroccan Railways (ONCF), as well as between the specific committees (Organising Committee and Scientific Committee).

In parallel to the Organising Committee, the Scientific Committee of the conference attended by the UIC Station Managers Global Group (SMGG) chaired by Mr Carlos Ventura (ADIF, Spain) is to start soon (by mid-December) to work with the remit to propose the overall structure of the conference (under the main theme “Stations: Designing future intermodal mobility”), themes for round tables and sessions as well as speakers.

Until mid-January 2015 the ONCF/UIC Organising Committee will decide, among others, on

• the conference venue in Marrakech among proposals submitted,
• the cooperation with the PCO appointed in Morocco, and distribution of responsibilities,
• the business model of the conference (in view of finalising the agreement between UIC and ONCF),
• the visual identity and image of the 5th NEXT STATION conference,
• composition of the Honorary Committee,
• the topics for the conference programme with high relevance and priority to ONCF,
• the organisation of the exhibition and sponsoring,
   etc.

The Organising Committee is also exploring the possibility of organising the 21st edition of CINERAIL, the international railway film festival (supported by UIC and a number of railway actors), in the same week in Marrakech, prior to the NEXT STATION conference, with a special focus on films (TV documentaries, short footage, corporate films of railway and public transport companies) dealing with railway stations.

For more information on NEXT STATION please contact at UIC: Inaki Barron, Director of Passenger and High Speed, barron@uic.org, Marc Guigon, Senior Advisor for Passenger Transport, guigon@uic.org, Paul Véron, Director of Communications, veron@uic.org