Sarawak Metro participates in world’s largest rail transport industry trade fair

KUCHING (Oct 7): Sarawak Metro Sdn Bhd recently participated as an exhibitor at InnoTrans, which is widely considered the world’s largest trade fair focused on the rail transport industry.

InnoTrans 2024, which was held on Sept 24-27, is organised biennially at the Messe Berlin exhibition centre, in Berlin, Germany.

Sarawak Metro’s participation at InnoTrans 2024, was at the invitation of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), as part of its trade delegation of exhibitors under ‘Astaka Malaysia’ or Malaysian Pavilion.

This was the first time Matrade held such an event for the Malaysian rail transport industry at InnoTrans, and this maiden effort was through its collaboration with the Malaysia Rail Industry Corporation (Maric), of which Sarawak Metro is a member.

Sarawak Metro chief executive officer Mazli Mustaffa said the inclusion of the organisation as an exhibitor at InnoTrans was a highly significant achievement.

“It is indeed a source of pride for us, especially as a Sarawakian company, to take part in this prestigious event, where major industry players from throughout the world are gathered every two years.

“This rare and valuable opportunity, which we were honoured to receive from Matrade and Maric, allowed us not only to share the story of Sarawak’s public transport transformation but also created other opportunities, where we were able to talk about potential advisory and consultancy services for other operators in cities with public transport needs similar to Kuching’s,” said Mazli in a statement.

The organisers acknowledged this year’s event as “the largest and most international InnoTrans since it was founded in 1996”.

Some of the milestones for this year’s InnoTrans included 2,940 exhibitors from 59 countries as well as record high of around 170,000 visitors from 133 countries.

In total, 42 exhibition halls were filled along with 133 vehicles and exhibits on the Outdoor Display and track area as well as 11 buses in the Bus Display.

This year’s event also witnessed 226 world debuts and more than 1,200 guests from all over the world at the official Opening Ceremony of InnoTrans 2024.