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A travel in time along UITP’s 125 years

After nearly 125 years UITP is still a very dynamic association. Among the activities to celebrate this anniversary, we are pleased to present here a concise timeline that places UITP evolution in a broader context of historical and scientific developments.

Every month, a 10-year period of history will be covered, split into three areas:

‘On the world scene’ describing major events in world history and scientific progress

‘Highlights in transport’ describing major innovations or developments in the transport world

‘UITP highlights’ describing the life of our association

Of course, selecting items is always subjective and our aim is not to be exhaustive but to give a quick and pleasant overview of our association’s life.

We hope you will enjoy this journey through history that you can also find in the section ‘Once upon a time’ in PTI magazine.

CONTACT: Thierry Maréchal, Information Centre Senior Manager, email

Print version (PDF):

1885 - 1895 1896 - 1905 1906 - 1914 1914 - 1924 1926 - 1935 1936 - 1946 1947 - 1957 1958 - 1968 1969 - 1979 1980 - 1990 1991 - 2001 2002 - 2010

Click on the years!

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009-2010

UITP highlights
Establishment of the Sustainable Development Working Group (future Commission), the Diversity Working Group, the Design and Culture Working Group, and the Academic Network - Creation in Lomé (Togo) of the UATP (Union Africaine des Transports Publics) that acts as the African Division of UITP - UITP launches extensive and successful training programmes
Highlights in transport
MAGLEV high speed train opens in Shanghai
UITP highlights

55th Congress takes place in Madrid - Establishment of the Trolleybus Working Group - Creation of an international and multidisciplinary Steering Committee charged with identifying future societal megatrends in order to deliver the necessary strategic actions for the sector - Creation of the Latin American Division, the regional office is established in 2005 in Sao Paulo - Creation of the MENA Division

On the world scene
The WHO issues a global alert on SARS - U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein - The Human Genome Project is completed
UITP highlights

The Security Group (future Commission) is established

On the world scene
Terrorist bombing hits rush-hour regional trains in Madrid, killing 190 - The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn - One of the worst natural disasters in history hits Southeast Asia. A massive 9.3 magnitude earthquake generates enormous tsunami waves that crash into the coast
UITP highlights
R. Cavalieri

56th Congress in Rome and Roberto Cavalieri (Metropolitana di Roma) is elected as new President - Publication of the report of the Steering Committee founded in 2003: “Public Transport in 2020: from vision to action” - Launching of the Car-sharing Platform. It is renamed and redefined in 2009 as Seamless Mobility Platform

On the world scene
The Huygens probe lands on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn
On the world scene
NASA's Stardust mission, the first to return dust from a comet, successfully ends - The Qinghai-Tibet Railway launches a trial operation, connecting China and Tibet for the first time - The International Astronomical Union defines 'planet' demoting Pluto to the status of 'dwarf planet' more than 70 years after its discovery
UITP highlights
57th Congress in Helsinki – Creation in 2007 of the Eurasian Division
On the world scene
The International Polar Year, a research programme to study both the North Pole and South Pole, is launched in Paris
On the world scene
The price of petroleum hits $100 per barrel for the first time - The proton beam is circulated for the first time in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, located at CERN, near Geneva – Major financial crisis hits the world
UITP highlights

58th Congress in Vienna. Alain Flausch (Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles) is elected as new President - The PTx2 strategy with the aim of doubling the market share of public transport worldwide by 2025 is launched

On the world scene
UNESCO launches The World Digital Library - The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain is deemed a global pandemic - A 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurs in Haiti, devastating the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince