On the afternoon of November 9, 2023, the Launching Ceremony of Global Alliance of Universities on Sustainable Transport (GAUST), led by Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), was successfully held in the multi-functional hall of Hongguoyuan Hotel. The ceremony was held both online and offline. Prof. YU Zujun, President of Beijing Jiaotong University, and CHEN Bingbo, Member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of China International Sustainable Transport Innovation and Knowledge Center, attended the ceremony and delivered speeches. The ceremony attracted a total of nearly 100 guests from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Austria and other countries.

YU Zujun expressed his gratitude to all the representatives for attending the ceremony. He noted that the establishment of a sustainable transport system is a crucial subject faced by the entire human society, and it bears great significance to realizing the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and building a community with a shared future for mankind. He introduced China's current transportation development, as well as the history, discipline development and scientific research of BJTU, and hoped that all members of the Alliance could make joint efforts to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and promote talent training and scientific research based on the construction of a "safe, convenient, efficient, green, economical, inclusive and resilient" sustainable transport system, so as to contribute to the development of global sustainable transport.

CHEN Bingbo congratulated the convening of the ceremony and introduced the general situation and social contributions of China International Sustainable Transport Innovation and Knowledge Center. He said that in 2021, President Xi Jinping announced the establishment of China International Sustainable Transport Innovation and Knowledge Center at the second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference, which fully demonstrated the importance attached by China on sustainable transport development. He hoped that the Center will continue to support the construction and development of the Alliance, promote knowledge sharing, scientific research and innovation, and talent training between BJTU and UN agencies, universities and research institutions, and promote the sustainable development of global transport.

XIA Mingchao, representative of the Alliance member universities and Vice President of Dalian Jiaotong University, and Cesar Briso, director of the National Mobile Communication Laboratory of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, delivered their speeches respectively.

Peter Ertl, Vice President of the Technische Universität Wien, Regine Gerike, Dean of the School of Transport Science of the Technische Universität Dresden, and James Myers, Vice Academic Dean of the Rochester Institute of Technology, attended the meeting via video link and delivered their speeches.

The ceremony was chaired by Prof. YAN Xuedong, Vice President of BJTU.

In the ceremony, the annual release of the Alliance and the sub-forums on "Sustainable Transport Development and Innovation" and "Sustainable Development of Rail Transit" were held.

The responsible personnel from all BJTU’s schools, Institute of Scientific Research, Office of Humanities and Social Sciences, Office of International Affairs attended the meeting.

In order to serve the construction of a competitive national transport, promote the sustainable development of global transport and jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind, enhance the international cooperation capability and global influence of specialized transportation universities, enhance cooperation and exchanges between global universities in the fields of transportation, energy and environment, and realize the "soft connection" in talent training and academic research, the "Global Alliance of Universities on Sustainable Transport" was established by BJTU together with well-known universities, enterprises and scientific research institutions at home and abroad.