François Davenne has been announced as Director General of UIC, the worldwide railway organisation, at the UIC General Assembly held on 25 June in Budapest. The appointment will take effect on 1 July 2019 with a four-year mandate. Mr Davenne succeeds Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, who served as Director General of UIC for over ten years.
François Davenne was appointed last year during the UIC General Assembly in Madrid, and joined the assocation as Deputy Director General in January 2019 in order to ensure a smooth transition with his predecessor in the spirit of continuity. During his mandate, Mr Davenne will focus, in particular, on improving the perception of the rail sector and on consolidating the position of the railways as the backbone of smart and decarbonised mobility.
He will also continue to promote UIC’s operational role globally. Thanks to the commitment of its members, the association benefits from a remarkable asset of standards describing the entire range of operational functions in the rail system. To fight against climate change and to establish the railways as the transport mode of the future, UIC must serve as a central forum in which its members can define an innovative technical vision.
UIC is the professional and technical association representing the unity of the railway sector at world level. It counts approximately 200 members on five continents (railway companies, infrastructure operators, service providers, etc.) and maintains close relationships to all players from the international railway industry, including manufacturers, railway associations, authorities and stakeholders from other industries and sektors, whose experiences might be benficial to the railways. The main tasks of UIC is to determine the business requirement of the railway community and elaborate innovative programs and solutions, whose implementation is also supported by IRS, who is reporting to them.
François Davenne graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications d’Evry in 1988 and from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in 1999. Throughout his career, he has consistently promoted interdisciplinarity as a key factor for success. Having gained experience in international satellite telecommunications, he initially held various roles in the housing sector, making use of his strong financial and legal skills. He was involved in policy and regulation of the sector and managed key operational programmes, most notably for the city of Paris.
After three years with the French Ministry of Transport, working on railway safety and regulation, with an emphasis on European regulations, he was elected in 2012 as Secretary General of OTIF, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail. From early 2013 to the end of 2018, he promoted interdisciplinarity and partnership building in order to expand and develop the uniform regulations for international carriage by rail.
