The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) was invited to attend a special presentation on the Future of Rail 2050 organized by Arup and supported by UK Trade and Investment held on 21 November 2014 at the InterContinental Hotel Bangkok.

The Future of Rail 2050, presented by Timothy Suen, an Arup Fellow and East Asia Rail Group Leader, is a thought paper created by ARUP Rail and Foresight + Research + Innovation with relevant inputs from contributors from around the world. The presentation focused on the passenger’s perspective on how railway trends will affect the way we live, work, and travel in the future.

The event also featured a presentation on the Transit Oriented Planning for the Future by Sam Chow, Director of Consulting, East Asia Transport Consulting, and a panel discussion that focused on the innovations, developments, and connectivity of the future rail in 2050.

The presentation was attended by H.E. Mark Kent, British Ambassador to Thailand; Prof. Somnuk Tangtermsirikul, Director, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology; Dr. Somprasong Suttayamully, Acting Director, MRTA; Dr. Rithika Suparat, Asst. Governor, MRTA; Tawatchai Suthiprapha, Senior Executive VP, Italian-Thai; Sindhu Pulsirivong, Chairman, SMC Group; and Jason Simpson, Arup General Manager, Thailand.

Dr. Naveed Anwar, Executive Director, AIT Consulting, one of AIT’s representatives in the event, discussed AIT’s strengths with Jason Simpson who showed interest in AIT’s broad expertise in the region. It was decided that Mr. Simpson will visit the Institute, upon Dr. Naveed’s invitation to further discuss possible collaboration on mutually-aligned areas of interests.