On 1 July François Davenne has officially taken office as new Director General of International Union of Railways (UIC). He will serve a chairman of the organisation during a four-year mandate. Mr Davenne will replace Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, who served as Director General of UIC for over ten years.

François Davenne was appointed for a new position on 4 July 2018 during the UIC General Assembly in Madrid. In January 2019, he joined the association as Deputy Director General for better transition with his predecessor in the spirit of continuity. At the UIC General Assembly that was held on 25 June in Budapest, François Davenne has been announced as a new Director General of the association.

The new chairman of UIC will focus 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 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,” the association stated.

François Davenne CV

Mr Davenne has significant experience in administration. He 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. Initially, he worked in the industry of international satellite telecommunications, then he held various roles in the housing sector, making use of his strong financial and legal skills.

His experience in the transport sector started with policy and regulation programmes for the city of Paris. Afterwards, François Davenne was working for three years with the French Ministry of Transport, where he was involved in railway safety and regulation. In 2012 he was elected as Secretary General of OTIF (the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail). Mr Davenne has been taking this office from early 2013 to the end of 2018. His main task was to promote interdisciplinarity and partnership building in order to expand and develop the uniform regulations for international carriage by rail.