In this week’s episode of ‘The Chiefs’, Monocle’s editorial director Tyler Brûlé speaks with CEO of Siemens Mobility, Michael Peter. They discuss the future of train travel, how to balance a human and digital touch and the innovation that we should be getting excited about.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Summer has arrived and with that, so has the June edition of Monocle magazine, where inside you'll find interviews and in depth reports with the future of transport at the fore.
And if you've got your hands on a copy, you'll already know that one of the figures beaming out from this month's Pages is the CEO of Siemens Mobility, Michael Pater.
An engineer by training, Mr.
Pater joined the Siemens family almost three decades ago before taking the helm of the company in 2018.
With so much experience on the inside of the ubiquitous German brand, he joins me today from Cairo to tell us exactly where Siemens Mobility will be taking us next and the pioneering innovation required to get there.
As the world turns away from air travel, how does rail travel capitalize on its status as the sustainable alternative?
How do we design the trains and routes of the future to ensure the balance of human and digital touch is just right?
And as night trains make their return across Europe, is there an opportunity to reinstate them as primary modes of travel, business and otherwise?
From Zurich, I'm Tyler Brulee and this is the Chiefs on Monocle 24.
Mr.
Peter, fantastic to talk to you.
We catch you in Cairo today, but we will come back to that topic in a moment.
I want to start the though by saying I am a completely paid up rail fan.
Maybe not as big a fan as I used to be, but you would have found me back in Montreal in the early 1970s going to meet the local commuter trains.
I'm a huge believer, like much of Monaco is as well, we're big believers in rail travel.
So first question is, do you have, and let's put competition to one side, do you have the easiest job in the world at the moment because everyone loves trains and planes are suddenly the bad guys.
Do I have the easiest job?
I don't know.
I have the most fun job that I can definitely say.
Because we have a course to fulfill to provide clean transportation.