Bertling succeeds Mr Henri Poupart-Lafarge, president of Alstom Transport, who will continue to represent Alstom on the Unife presiding board.

"Decisions and investments made at the European level have a massive impact on our industry," Bertling told delegates. "For example, the Shift²Rail joint undertaking that is about to begin operations will have a game-changing impact on the transport sector, along with the massive investment and deployment efforts the EU has made in the interoperable signalling system ERTMS. We will, of course, continue to be very present in Brussels on the political issues facing our industry."