Rail success stories

Rail transport provides a safe, reliable, cheap and environmentally friendly service to travellers all around the world. It connects cities and regions sustainably, allowing users to reach their destinations within or across urban areas.

The latest advances in technology through digitalisation, automation, big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and material science, constitutes a great opportunity for the rail sector to deliver more tailored approaches and efficient services to users with evolving demands. By contributing significantly to changing their lives and creating a better environment to live in, rail will become the backbone of the mobility system in cities and regions.

A lot still needs to be done to fully adapt to these new challenges, in some cases these have been accentuated and become more urgent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the purpose of the ‘Rail Success Stories’ report is to share positive and successful examples of rail service development in cities, metropolitan areas and regions worldwide, showcasing how it continues to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life for citizens and users and how positively it has impacted the areas, acting as a booster for the economies, the fight against climate change and the societal challenges at large.

In the success stories presented, different actors from all around the globe showcase their experiences, covering a wide range of aspects and tackling different challenges: from automation to the environment, the fight against terrorism, tourism, digitalisation of services, and much more.

The initiatives provide positive examples of how the rail sector’s disruptive potential can be exploited, generating added value not only for customers, but for regions and cities as well as for broader society.

All the following stories are shortened versions. To see the full stories, UITP members can access the extensive report on MyLibrary.

Download the Report