History
The very first Elmia Nordic Rail fair was held in October 1995.
The aim was to establish a platform for companies, organisations and people with a professional interest in the railway, primarily in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
It met with an immediate response from the industry. Sweden finally had a railway fair to be reckoned with. Nordic Rail became a forum for finding out news, sharing experiences and discussing railway-related issues.
The first fair attracted just over 2,000 visitors. Since then numbers have increased year on year, and have now more than doubled.
In tandem with this, the fair has grown in terms of size and number of exhibitors. The first fair needed 2,500 square metres of exhibition space. In 2007 the figure had risen to almost 6,500 square metres.
When Nordic Rail was originally conceived, it was also agreed to make the conference section one of the fundamental cornerstones.
And that is what happened, with the fair offering high level conferences. We have a main seminar focusing on a crucial issue, with the leading players and key politicians in attendance. There are also several trade seminars and exhibitor seminars. Altogether, this has made Nordic Rail an event that is not only an important source of information, but also a forum for discussion.
The aim now is to become the leading fair not only in the Nordic region, but the whole of Europe. As part of this aim, in 2007 we started a sister event called Future Transport, a fair focusing on the transport systems of the future. This puts Nordic Rail and the whole railway issues into a wider transport perspective.