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= Vincent Ducrot =

Vincent Ducrot, born on 7 September 1962 in Châtel-Saint-Denis in the Veveyse District is a Swiss public transport executive. An electrical engineer specialising in information technology by training, he was Managing Director of Transports Publics Fribourgeois (TPF) from 2011 to 2020, before being named as the new CEO of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in December 2019, taking up the position on 1 April 2020. The engineer with expertise in project management spent most of his career (from 1993 to 2011) at SBB, before becoming its CEO in 2020.

Early life and education
Vincent Ducrot, the eldest of three children, was born in 1962 in Châtel-St-Denis in the canton of Fribourg.

After a baccalaureate (Latin-languages) at Bulle College, he obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering (specialising in computer science) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in 1987. He completed this training with a postgraduate diploma in industrial organization from the Center for industrial management (BWI) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), as well as a certificate in portfolio management (Certified Portfolio Director IPMA Level A®) and the OWP (Orchestrating winning performance) continuing education program of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne.

Early career
Vincent Ducrot began his professional life in 1986 as a computer scientist in various positions in Switzerland and abroad (Europe and the United States).

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
In 1993, Vincent Ducrot started his career in the railway industry as the Head of SBB’s Software Product Division.

From 1997 to 1998, he was the Executive for Expo.02, responsible for organising public transport during the Swiss National Exposition (held from 15 May to 20 October 2002).

From 1999 to 2010, he was Head of Long-Distance Services, responsible for deciding and implementing the long-distance services strategy for the Swiss rail network. During this time he worked on the introduction of the first phase of Rail 2000, and the opening of the new Lötschberg line and the Lötschberg Tunnel.

Internationally, he was involved in setting up the TGV Lyria, the French high-speed service connecting France and Switzerland with a first connection between Paris and Lausanne, followed by other high speed connexions, as the LGV Est, providing fast services between Paris and the principal cities of eastern France, as well as Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland (connecting Basel and Paris in 2007.) Ducrot also developed the SBB’s Swiss Transport Concept for UEFA Euro 2008.

From 2009 to 2010, Vincent Ducrot also held the post ad interim of Acting Head of Passenger Division, which saw him join the senior management at SBB.

Transport Publics Fribourgeois (TPF)
At the beginning of July 2011, Vincent Ducrot was appointed Managing Director of Transports Publics Fribourgeois (TPF). He will transform the TPF into a holding company in 2015. Under his leadership, the number of passengers has risen from 25.7 million in 2011 to 32.5 million in 2018, and the number of employees has increased from 700 to nearly 1,200.

At the head of the TPFs, he will carry out several infrastructure modernisation projects, including new-generation stations, notably in Bossonnens, Belfaux, Pensier, Münchenwiler-Courgevaux, Montbovon and Châtel-St-Denis. Between 2014 and 2019, five new real estate districts will also be created around stations designed as new living spaces, i.e. those of Bulle and Châtel-St-Denis.

In the spring of 2019, the director sees the completion of another huge project that he initiated at Givisiez: the new TPF Maintenance and Administrative Centre. Named Givisiez Ensemble, this 70,000 m2 complex, inaugurated on 21 September 2019, brings together the company's maintenance activities, operations centre and administration in a single location.

Its track record also includes technological innovations for TPF users, including participation in the launch of FAIRTIQ (a mobile ticketing app released by 21 Swiss transport companies) and the introduction of SMS ticketing (an application for purchasing bus tickets by SMS). In 2017, the TPFs also opened the first test line of Navya SAS autonomous shuttles in Marly, where electric vehicles could run without driving personnel after the test phase.

CEO of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
On 10 December 2019, the Board of Directors of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) announced the appointment of Vincent Ducrot to the position of CEO, with effect from 1 April 2020. He replaces Andreas Meyer, who had been at the head of the country's largest public transport company since 2007 and had announced – in September 2019 – his intention to step down in 2020. The engineer from Fribourg thus becomes the first person from French-speaking Switzerland in almost 50 years to head SBB.

Opinions
At the head of the Transports publics fribourgeois (TPF), Vincent Ducrot has invested in the development of autonomous electric shuttles by commissioning (in 2017) the first test line of Navya autonomous shuttles in Marly. He is convinced that autonomous vehicles on the road and also on the rails will play an important role in the public transport of the future.

Publications

 * Information Engineering in der Praxis: Konzepte und Strategien zur Software-Eigenentwicklung, Walter Brenner (éditeur), Christoph Binkert (éditeur), Michael Lehmann-Kahler (éditeur), Campus Verlag, Vincent Ducrot co-auteur.