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Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 31 May 2005 /
Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen – ÖBB) has embarked to gradually complete Austria’s rail infrastructure, based on the requirements specified for the 2020 target network to enable it to cope with current and future transport demand. Capacity, cost efficiency and maximum customer benefit are the main drivers of all initiatives concerning operation, planning, construction and maintenance of infrastructure.
In the future, new assessment methods will help to give reasonable, retraceable and transparent answers to the difficult question of defining development project priorities. The goal is to better demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of individual projects at an early stage, thus making a positive contribution to objective public discussions. ÖBB will capitalise on its new Group structure to quickly and efficiently proceed towards this goal. (more…)
Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 31 May 2005 /
The DE-Consult (Deutsche Eisenbahn-Consulting GmbH) a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn AG (German Railways) with its vast worldwide experience, has for more than one and a half decades supported the development of railway sectors in Middle and Eastern European countries.
Projects have been carried out in Russia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Moldovia and further countries of the region plan for the future railway developments within the Pan-European Transport Corridor IV, with Hungary and Romania as a priority.
The way for a European transport market, which goes extensively over the borders of the old European market, was created in the middle of the 1990s. At Pan-European Transport Conferences held in Crete in 1994 and 1997 in Helsinki, participating countries from Middle and Eastern Europe together with the representatives of the EU and the OECD approved ten Pan-European Transport Corridors. These multimodal transport corridors connect the Middle and Eastern European countries with one another and also with the EU. They are foreseen as the basic framework of a future orientated transport network for the region. Later on, priority was given to investigations, feasibility studies, planning and realisation of larger transport projects which were concentrated on these corridors. The larger part of the EU financial support for transport infrastructure in Middle and Eastern Europe was used for the development of the Pan-European Corridor. They also created the basis for the definition of necessary infrastructure measures within the frame of the TINA-process during the preparation for the ten Middle and Eastern European countries to join the EU. Last but not least, they were one of the basics for the adaptation of the TEN-T of the EU in context with the east expansion of the European community in the year 2004 and also for the already envisaged further enlargement in 2007.
Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 31 May 2005 /
The challenges are plain for Danish rail infrastructure manager, Rail Net Denmark. A somewhat outdated rail and signal infrastructure are ripe for thorough renewals. The task is put in the hands of an organisation in the process of change, moving from being household of the state to a more independent role. To complete the picture, the Danish Government is reconsidering the entire future structure for Rail Net Denmark. The man in charge of both processes is CEO Jesper Rasmussen. In this article he explains how Rail Net Denmark will develop in the coming years and which strategic measures are taken into use to support the development.
In a couple of years Rail Net Denmark has moved from being part of the central administration in Denmark to a state-owned enterprise with an independent Board of Directors. As liberalisation of the markets is a fact, I suspect this will go even further. Markets are opening up and we need to be able to compete with the other players on the track market in Europe more than ever before. This means major changes in the way we do our business, and to do that we have to define the desired qualities of our core business in a way that is unmistakable for customers, employees and government alike.
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Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 2 March 2005 /
It is barely 10 years since local passenger transport in Germany was frequently likened to an ‘ugly duckling’, not only by the general public, but also by the company itself.
The image of local passenger services was summed up with attributes such as ‘too expensive, too inflexible, not particularly comfortable and not lucrative’. Now that we have long since crossed the threshold to a new millennium, that attitude has changed radically. Although local rail services may not have evolved into a ‘magnificent swan’ throughout the country, unmistakeable progress has nevertheless been made in the quality of our services since regionalisation and the concomitant increase in competition.
Deutsche Bahn has played a crucial role in shaping that process and has successfully defended its position as the leading provider of local transport services in the German market. Deutsche Bahn’s target has always been to offer local rail services, not only in conurbation areas or on selected lucrative routes, but also safeguarding the long term future of railway lines in rural areas by ensuring efficient operations and simultaneously raising the attractiveness of local rail transport in such regions.
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Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 2 March 2005 /
In every recent statistic about wealth and world markets, Luxembourg can be found in the top slot of GDP per capita listings, making Luxembourgers, at least in theory, somewhat wealthy people.
As can be expected from this statistic, individual transportation is at an all-time high. This, in combination with Luxembourg’s limited territorial assets, gives our country the problem of over-saturation of public roads. A single road repair on a motorway can lock up traffic around Luxembourg City quite efficiently on work-day mornings and seriously delay commuters.
For this reason, public pressure on our political decision-makers to act urgently on the improvement of public transportation has greatly increased over the last decade. Up until now, CFL has mostly run on post-war material and track infrastructure, as there was no real need for upgrading. This has changed radically, when many of our long overdue investments have finally been sanctioned.
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