Tomorrow’s infrastructure in focus at Elmia

Sustainable transports, technological development and safety issues were the main themes at Elmia Future Transport, Elmia Nordic Rail and Elmia Nordic Road. With some 100 international exhibitors, the three fairs entrenched their position as the Nordic region’s largest and leading meeting place for transport and infrastructure.

High-speed rail links, Sweden’s Vision Zero target for traffic deaths, and digitalisation’s ingress into the infrastructure sector were a few of the many topics discussed during the three-day-long conference programme. The seminars, over 70 in number, focused on everything from major long-term infrastructure investments to technological progress and individual companies’ visions for the future.

The world’s biggest train manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation, participated in both the conference programme and as an exhibitor at Elmia Nordic Rail – the Nordic region’s leading railway fair. The innovations at the Bombardier stand included the new Movia C30 Metro, which will soon be operating in Stockholm’s metro system.

“Both at our stand and during the seminars we’ve had a lively dialogue with customers and suppliers alike,” commented Fredrik Nordström, Deputy Managing Director and head of Nordic sales at Bombardier Transportation Sweden AB. “With Bombardier’s total solutions and focus on accessibility, use and safety, we regard Elmia Nordic Rail as a natural arena for the Nordic railway sector.”

Daily crash tests

Elmia Nordic Road, the fair with a focus on roads, followed up on its successful premiere in 2015 and was a huge hit with daily crash tests, which were organised by Nordic Road Safety on a specially built asphalted track outside the fair halls.
“There’s been massive hype about the tests, with everything from Facebook posts to visits from television and radio,” said Anders Hamrin, sales manager for Nordic Road Safety. “We’re extremely pleased with the results, which were just what we’d hoped for. Everyone knows how dangerous wrongly installed road barriers can be but almost no one has seen what a crash looks like in reality. With these tests we’ve shown how serious the consequences can be even when the speed is only 70 kilometres an hour.”

Great international interest

Of the approximately 100 exhibitors from outside Sweden, 10 came from the UK and the British Embassy also exhibited.

“A lot is happening in the transport sector in the Nordic countries and the fair at Elmia is the only major one where everyone gathers at the same time,” commented Alan Goodliffe of the Department for International Trade and the British Embassy in Stockholm. “This is an opportunity for British companies and their counterparts in other countries to share their experiences of both successful and less-successful projects.”

The fair management also heard positive reactions both from exhibitors and in the conference halls.

“It’s fantastic to be able to arrange the Nordic region’s most important fair on transport and infrastructure,” commented project manager Magnus Ringqvist. “We’ve held conferences on everything from investments worth billions to passenger comfort. We’ve presented the Future Transport Award and we’ve held matchmaking meetings where Swedish projects could meet with selected suppliers. It’s been three fantastic days with Elmia Future Transport, Elmia Nordic Rail and Elmia Nordic Road.”

The fairs had 3393 unique visitors. Number of day visits 4171.