UIC and the Polish Association of Transport Engineers & Technicians (SITK) in co-operation with CER, the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and Development and the European Commission organised a workshop in Warsaw during which discussions were held on new regulations regarding the development of TEN-T and the principles of financing their development.
The new EU regulations 1315/2003 and 1316/2013 published on 11 December 2013 determine the direction of development of TEN-T for all types of transport mode.
According to the 2011 EU White Paper on Transport, a significant role in European transport is falling to high speed railways. By 2030 the number of kilometres of high speed lines in Europe will triple.
The workshop was opened by Vice Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland, Cezary Grabarczyk, formerly Minister of the Infrastructure, who initiated preparations for the structure of high speed lines in Poland and the connections with Berlin and Prague. He was also one of the main supporters of the new shape of TEN-T. Zbigniew Klepacki, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Development in Poland originally proposed the requirements for investment in the Polish rail network up to 2020.
Paweł Stelmaszczyk, Representative of the European Commission, presented directions regarding European transport politics in the light of the 2011 White Paper and the new corridor ideas for the development of TEN-T.
Libor Lochman, Executive Director of CER, presented problems, barriers and possibilities regarding the development of passenger transport in Europe.
The first session was summarised by Iñaki Barrón, Director of the UIC Passenger & High Speed Department and Michel Leboeuf, Chairman of the UIC Intercity & High Speed Committee.
Iñaki Barrón described the development of high speed railway systems both in Europe and elsewhere in the world. Michel Leboeuf summarised the achievements and UIC’s aims in the development of passenger transport, especially concerning high speed railways.
The second session was dedicated to the Regulation of the European Parliament and Council No 1315/2013, on EU guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport Network and Regulation No. 1316/2013 regarding the principles of using the new instruments supporting transport infrastructure investments in the EU.
The third session considered ‘Railway, cities and regions’ which provided the opportunity for presentations and discussions on the role of efficient transport in the development of regions.
The fourth session organised by the UIC Committee for Intercity & High Speed Railways was a presentation of national programmes on HS networks and observations from different regions (Europe, Asia, America). It provided an opportunity to try to answer questions based on current experience, regarding the possibility of freight traffic and passenger traffic running together on high speed lines. Experience so far is proving positive and is projecting that where line capacity is appropriate fast freight traffic can be introduced. The following experts participated in this session: Iñaki Barrón (UIC, Spain), Michel Leboeuf (UIC, France), Ottmar Grein (DB), Takumi Ishii (Japan, UIC), Kong Qi (China, UIC), Jan Šulc (SŽDC, Czech Republic), Clara Zamorano (Adif, Spain), Imanol Leza (Eusko), Victorino Pérez (Renfe Operadora, Spain), Sunghoon Choi (Korea)
Presentations are available at www.sitk.org
