News Release
No. 201908

November 20, 2019

RTRI Hosts WCRR 2019
The Railway Technical Research Institute held the 12th World Congress on Railway Research, WCRR
2019 from October 28 to November 1 this year at the Tokyo International Forum under the theme“Railway Research to Enhance the Customer Experience”.
WCRR is an international congress organized by the WCRR Organizing Committee composed of Union
International des Chemins de fer (UIC), Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF),
Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG), Trenitalia, Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), Transportation
Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) and RTRI.
WCRR 2019, the 12th congress of WCRR, was held for the second time in Japan, 20 years since 1999.
Total 993 people, 424 from 37 countries and 569 from Japan, participated in the congress. Under thecongress theme “Railway Research to Enhance the Customer Experience”, three plenary sessions, 10organized sessions, and 60 oral and interactive poster sessions covering eight research fields were provided.
In particular, the organized sessions were included in the congress program for the first time. They areintended to encourage in-depth discussions on the world’s hottest topics and characterized by the unity amongpresentation topics and flexible styles of presentations. 44 presentations (10 from Japan) were made at theorganized sessions under the leadership of the chairpersons who are outstanding experts in each field. At theoral and interactive poster sessions, 167 oral presentations (44 from Japan) and 142 (59 from Japan)
interactive poster presentations were made. Each session theme is as follows:① Plenary sessions
1. The Role of Railway Operators in Enhancing the Customer Experience
2. Contribution of Railway Suppliers to Elevating the Value of Railways
3. Research and Development for Future Railways② Organized sessions•Horizon Scanning for the Railways: An International Collaboration Perspective•

Decision-Aid for Real-Time Railway Operation Control•

Autonomous Trains on Main Lines•

Global Certification for Innovative Product Development•On-Board Monitoring for Vehicle/Infrastructure Diagnostics and CBM•

Integration of On-Board and Wayside Measurements with Virtual Methods Towards Safer, More CostEffective, Risk-Conscious and Innovation-Spurring Assessment Methods for Running-Dynamics•Digital Technologies for Predictive Maintenance•Maglev Systems•

Global Vision for Railway Development•

From Research to Benefits: How to Accelerate the Innovation Process1

News Release
No. 201908

November 20, 2019③ Oral and interactive poster sessions•

Improvement of Service Quality, Speed, Time to Destination, and Functionality•

Economics, Policy and Planning•

Sustainability•

Safety and Natural Hazard Management•

Rolling Stock•

Infrastructure•

Railway System Interface•

Maglev and New Transport Systems

An exhibition on railway technologies was also held.
126 companies and organizations supported WCRR 2019 as sponsors.

[Congress schedule and outline]
October 28

WCRR 2019 was started with the welcome reception

October 29
Opening remarks
Dr. Ikuo Watanabe, Chair of WCRR OGC
Welcome by RTRI
Dr. Norimichi Kumagai, Pesident of RTRI
Greetings
Mr. Nobuhide Minorikawa, State Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Mr. Takashi Nakajima, Director, Bureau of Urban Development, Tokyo Metropolitan
GovernmentProf. Gianluigi Castelli, Chairman of UIC, Chairman of FS Group

Plenary session 1:
The Role of Railway Operators in Enhancing the Customer Experience(Moderator: Professor Anson Jack, University of Birmingham)
From Japan, Mr. Masaki Ogata, Vice Chairman of JR East and Mr. Shun-ichi Kosuge, Executive
Vice President of JR Central joined the discussion.
Mr. Ogata talked about “MaaS” (Mobility as a Service) system that JR East is building and pointed
out open innovation, collaboration among operators and the first and last mile solution as the three
key factors to realize “MaaS”. Mr. Ogata also encouraged the researchers attending to have avision for the future when starting a development project.

2

News Release
No. 201908

November 20, 2019

Mr. Kosuge introduced the technical achievement by the mass high-speed transportation system,
Shinkansen, and explained the progress in the construction of the superconducting Maglev line.
He also stressed the necessity of more advanced and efficient operation and maintenancesystems for the future.

October 30
Plenary session 2:
Contribution of Railway Suppliers to Elevating the Value of Railways(Moderator: Mr. Nick Kingsley, Managing Editor of Railway GazetteInternational)
From Japan, Mr. Takao Nishiyama, President of the Japan Transport Engineering Company (JTREC) joined the discussion.
Mr. Nishiyama said that, at J-TREC, the life-cycle cost has been reduced by thoroughly sharing
platforms and the technologies and know-how of their parent company, JR East, have been
integrated into their production systems. He referred as well to the importance of keeping good
relationships with affiliated companies.

Gala dinner

About 800 people attended the gala dinner in the evening, where Mr. Kazuyosi Akaba, Minister of the Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Dr. Eisuke Masada, Chairman of RTRI and other guests gave welcome
greetings.

October 31
Plenary session 3:
Research and Development for Future Railways(Moderator: Emeritus Professor Roderick Smith, Imperial College London)
From Japan, President Kumagai of RTRI joined the discussion and stated the following views:•Digital technologies contributing to corporate profits are important.

•It is necessary to ensure sufficient research and development budget and produce quality outcomes.

•The development of condition-based maintenance technologies is a high-priority task for utilizing aging
railway asset.

•We need to contribute to the society, having awareness that railways are a key player in the entiremobility.

Closing ceremony

The best paper awards and the young researcher award were given to an outstanding paper in each field. Fromamong Japanese researchers, Mr. Hiroyuki Nakajima of JR East and Mr. Hirotake Noguchi of Tokyo Metro won
the awards in the fields “Rolling Stock, Maglev and New Transport Systems” and “Infrastructure” respectively.

3News Release
No. 201908

November 20, 2019

November 1
Technical visits
Eleven courses of technical visits to railway related facilities and construction sites were provided and theparticipants joined a tour of their preference.

The technical visits included two courses to see the facilities ofRTRI, one to visit RTRI and Railway Information Systems Co., Ltd. in Kunitachi and the other to RTRI’s Wind
Tunnel Technical Center in Maibara and the Kyoto Railway Museum. 53 and 26 people joined the tours
respectively.
[Next WCRR]
The next WCRR will be held in Birmingham, UK, in June 2022.

At the closing ceremony, WCRR 2019 Organizing

Committee Chairperson, Executive Vice President Watanabe of RTRI handed over the WCRR plaque to the nextchairperson Ms. Luisa Moisio of RSSB, UK, and Professor Anson Jack of University of Birmingham.

Minister of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr Kazuyoshi Akaba at the gala dinnerState Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr. Nobuhide Minorikawa
at the opening ceremony

4News ReleaseNo. 201908

November 20, 2019

UIC Chairman Prof. Gianluigi Castelli at the opening ceremony

Professor Anson Jack of University of Birmingham
moderating the plenary session 1

Vice Chairman of JR East Mr. Masaki Ogata
at Plenary Session 1

Executive Vice President of JR Central Mr. Shun-ichi
Kosuge at Plenary Session 1

Managing Editor of Railway Gazette International
Mr. Nick Kingsley moderating the Plenary Session 25

News Release
No. 201908

November 20, 2019

J-TREC President Mr. Takao Nishiyama
at the Plenary Session 2

Emeritus Prof. Roderick Smith of Imperial CollegeLondon moderating the Plenary Session 3

RTRI President Mr. Norimichi Kumagai
at Plenary Session 3

Organized Session

Oral session

Interactive poster session

6

News Release
No. 201908

November 20, 2019

Exhibition with 126 domestic and overseas exhibitors

Exhibition booth by 8 JR group companies

Exhibition booth by JR East

Exhibition booth by Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking

Exhibition booth by Hitachi, Ltd.

Technical visits

Participants listening to the explanation of the railway
seat reservation system “MARS” at JR Systems

Participants on board the fuel cellhybrid powered test vehicle at RTRI

7

News Release
No. 201908

November 20, 2019

Closing Ceremony

Dr. Matthias Landgraf of Graz University of Technology(left) wins the best paper award

WCRR 2019 Organizing Committee Chair Watanabedelivers closing remarks

WCRR2019 Organizing and ExecutiveCommittee members

WCRR 2019 Organizing Committee Chair Watanabehands over the WCRR plaque to the representativesof UK, the host country of WCRR2022

8