Thursday, 28 May 2009
Investment in rail can address both the current economic and the environmental crises by supporting an economic recovery from the recession whilst also contributing to meeting targets for cutting CO2 emissions in the transport sector, it was said by transport ministers, railway chief executives and academic experts at the International Transport Forum (ITF) in Leipzig on 27 May.
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) organised a workshop on ‘Railways in a Globalised World’ at the 2009 International Transport Forum, which was attended by 200 representatives from governments, business and academy in Europe and beyond. “We find it encouraging that leading politicians and experts from the transport sector see the railways as part of the solution to the economic and the environmental crises we are facing in Europe and the world,” Johannes Ludewig, CER executive director, said after the workshops. “It is clear that we soon need a reform of the pricing system so that transport reflects its true costs. Steps taken in Switzerland show that economies gain and do not break down when this happens,” he added.
A first session of the workshop focussed around how investment in rail can support economic recovery as well as contribute to cutting CO2 emissions in the transport sector. The participants noted that the “climate is right for rail” and that there are a number of short term measures that could be introduced to help rail quickly. However, as Eberhard von Koerber from the Club of Rome pointed out referring to Germany, only 1.6% (EUR 1.3 billion) out of a EUR 80 billion recovery package are reserved for rail. Further speakers in this session included the Swiss transport minister Moritz Leuenberger, Francisco José Cardoso dos Reis, president of the Portuguese railways (CFP), Bert Klerk, chief executive of ProRail and chairman of EIM, and Michael Clausecker, director general of UNIFE.
A second session looked into how governments and railways can jointly improve the efficiency and reliability of administrative and operational processes for cross-border and long-distance rail systems. The participants concluded that in order to further develop international rail services, governments need to take an active role in removing operational and administrative barriers. The Dutch transport minister Camiel Eurlings noted the need to break down the bureaucratic burden of these processes to prepare for the upturn. He added that politicians needed to appreciate the role they can play in making the industry more efficient: the call for harmonisation was increasingly loud and governments had to listen to freight companies. Further panellists in this session included the undersecretary of state in the Polish ministry of infrastructure, Juliusz Engelhardt, the chief executive of the Italian railways (FS) and chairman of CER, Mauro Moretti, the chief executive of DB Schenker Rail, Klaus Kremper, the chief executive of Trans Eurasia Logistics, Hartmut Albers, and the president of Rail World, Ed Burkhardt.
