The closing ceremony of the 9th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis, RailBeijing 2021 was successfully held on November 6, 2021. Norio Tomii, Chairman of the International Association of Railway Operations Research (IAROR), Ingo A. Hansen, former Chairman, and Nie Lei, President of School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University attended and delivered speeches. The conference was presided over by Meng Lingyun, Deputy Secretary of CPC and Vice President of School of Traffic and Transportation.
At the closing ceremony, Academician He Huawu, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Continuously accelerating railway technology innovation to promote low-carbon and efficient transportation development". He introduced the achievements made in domestic transportation sector from two aspects of high-speed rail and urban rail transit, and presented detailedly the innovation examples of rail transit to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality.
Nie Lei in the speech, expressed sincere gratitude to the keynote speakers, the chairmen of the sub-forums, experts and scholars attending the conference. She as well appreciated the efficient service of volunteer team for guaranteeing the smooth progress of the conference and escorting it to a complete success.
Norio Tomii extended his thanks to the members of the Organizing Committee and the Academic Committee for their contributions to make the conference a success. Norio Tomii then announced the winners of the Young Research Award. The first prize was awarded to Norman Weik, the Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center, the second prize to Zhu Yongqiu, the Institute of Transport Planning and Systems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, and the third prize to Luan Xiaojie, the Institute of Transport Planning and Systems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. Ingo A. Hansen in his online speech said that the Organizing Committee has made huge efforts for a complete success of the RailBeijing under the severe epidemic situation in the whole world and demonstrated its amazing ability. He hoped to visit China next time to experience the collision of cultures and ideas.
The delegates Egidio Quaglietta, Assistant Professor and Nikola Bešinović, Researcher of Delft University of Technology spoke at the conference and shared their feelings. The conference also appointed Professor Rob M.P. Goverde of Delft University of Technology and Professor Francesco Corman of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich as the new chairman and vice chairman of the International Association of Railway Operations Research. In the conference, Belgrade, Serbia was selected to host the next International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis, and the representative of Serbia, Ivan Belošević, expressed his great pleasure and honor to host the next conference. He said the successful holding of this conference has made a perfect demonstration for the next, and welcome to Belgrade in 2023.
In the end, Norio Tomii announced the successful conclusion of the 9th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis.
The conference was sponsored by the International Association of Railway Operations Research, organized by Beijing Jiaotong University and the Transport Committee of China Railway Society, and supported by China Association for Science and Technology. The conference, in a combination of online and offline, covered 7 keynote speeches and several sub-forums, with “Smart and Green Railway Operations” as the theme. The conference attracted extensive attention from international scholars and the industry. Experts and scholars from 17 countries, 56 universities and relevant units of the industry registered to attend, and received more than 160 papers.