A business without infrastructure
A topic I will resume this month is that of the way in which public authorities get involved in the railway infrastructure maintenance activity. The core of the entire European railway reform consists in financially separating railway undertakings, which means eliminating disguised subsidies, ensuring financial transparency and creating the premises of a competitive area. A [...]
Developing transport connections, increasing the effectiveness of international railway cargo transportation and attracting foreign trade cargo to the railways in increased East-West cargo transportation flows linking Asia, Europe and North-East America are among the main objectives of the strategy signed by the International Union of Railways (UIC) and the Coordinating Council on Trans-Siberian Transportation (CCTT). [...]
Europe will bet on a smart, green and integrated transport. Funding necessary is over EUR 7 BillionOne of the priorities of “Horizon 2020” Programme, a strategy focusing on 3 main components, is railway transport. The strategy includes the scientific component which gives priority to excellency. The industrial component encourages competitiveness and the social component tries to develop projects answering societal challenges. For the next 7 years (2014-2020), the programme needs EUR [...]
Each year people die in accidents at level crossings involving road vehicles colliding with trains. 95% of these fatalities are attributed to faults by the road vehicle driver who doesn’t pay attention to signalling. Despite this, society labels most fatal accidents at level crossings as a rail problem. In spite of the best safety precautions, [...]
RAILHUC project: focus on enhancing rail transport in Central EuropeSince 2007, the EU cohesion policy programmes of territorial cooperation have been encouraging regions and cities from various member states to meet and work on topics of their common interest. As a result, a number of project ideas arise in the field of transport as well. One of them has been developed into a strategic [...]
EU bets on railway infrastructure financing
Interview with Libor Lochman, Executive Director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) Over the next decades, railway infrastructure investment granting in Europe has to overrun funds invested in road projects. This is one of the most important conditions for economic growth, competitiveness and a significant reduction of emissions. Central and East [...]
Cities reshape tram infrastructure
As modern transport mode, the tram is essential in meeting the citizens’ mobility demands. Over the past years, European and Asian countries alike have either reintroduced trams or have even built new tram networks to deliver a comfortable and efficient urban transport mode. Tram transport does not need massive financing grants compared to the underground [...]
Crowded European cities have to improve their mobility managementThe opportunity provided to the citizens of new European Union member states to benefit from personal vehicles and the acceleration of this tendency following the foreign investments in these countries has to be compensated by offering several alternative measures such as mobility management for supporting sustainable transport. Promoting these measures is even more important in [...]
Increase of urbanisation in Bucharest determined the development of Line 6The underground development strategy in the capital of Romania, Bucharest, for the next 30 years, establishes the development projects to be implemented which amount to approximately EUR 8.5 Billion. A great part of the efforts made for public transport development should focus on promoting the underground transport. Under the circumstances, the premises of project implementation [...]
More transparent laws on track access charges
Track access charges account for a significant part of the costs of a railway operator. The level and structure of the charge are therefore crucial in establishing competition on the rail network. According to government contributions, theses charges are usually the main source of income for the infrastructure manager and usually represent third the outgoings [...]
Modern design of urban spaces, encouraged by High-Speed Lines
In the past years, the construction of high-speed networks has become one of the most important step for developing transport modes: the European states which already have a high-speed transport system extend their network, those which do not benefit from such a network, try to built one, the same situation being also valid for the [...]
Azerbaijan holds strategic position in the WBSA Area
Azerbaijan’s economy is one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing in the region through marketing its huge natural resources. The nation’s healthy economic indices and constantly improving international credit rating is a result of the Government’s responsible fiscal policy and a long-term economic strategy. Currently, Azerbaijan is making major investment into wide-ranging infrastructure projects [...]
