European Integration Of Rail Freight Transport

The Round Table looks at how the European railway landscape is being reshaped. In doing so, it presents lessons which stand to benefit transport policy throughout Europe.

This book looks at the most recent transport and investment trends. It then examines the pan-European process of legal harmonisation and adjustment of transport systems and analyses emerging trade and transport links between Europe and Asia.

Europe's rail-freight market is undergoing sweeping changes. While an expanding long-distance export market is favorable to rail transportation, railways have been steadily losing market share to the truck industry. The reasons for this are numerous and range from a sub-standard quality of service, lack of advanced computer technology and transport logistics, and a shortage of commercial marketng technique. As rail networks open up to competition, new rail firms are springing up. Will the current operators keep pace with change or are they threatened with extinction? Are new firms going to be commercially viable in areas in whcih traditional operators have always failed? The Round Table attempted to answer these questions by taking a look at how the European railway landscape is being reshaped. In doing so, it learned lessons which stand to benefit transportation policy throughout Europe.

This book explains how barriers to growth in rail freight transport across Europe can be overcome. It recommends a simple set of charges that create incentives for management and planning of train operations across national borders.

Despite a decline in traditional rail freight markets (especially coal and steel), and loss of market share to other modes, the overall growth in freight in recent years has allowed rail freight to maintain its volume. The Commission has introduced three packages of directives to stimulate further growth in this market (the first should have been implemented in the 15 member states, the second is to be implemented by 2005, and the third is yet to be adopted). This report reviews the background to the packages, and offers a provisional analysis of their effect so far. The quality of service offered to customers of rail freight movement in Europe falls seriously short of standards required in a competitive environment. Liberalisation of the UK market since 1994 has, however, resulted in better performance and a growing market share for rail freight. The Committee has reservations about some parts of the third package of directives, particularly the proposal to require all train drivers to hold an international rail driving licence, and the proposal for compulsory compensation to rail freight customers for poor quality service. The report also examines problems with the Channel Tunnel, the only direct rail link between the UK and mainland Europe.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Transportation Science & Technology, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Institut für Geographie (Wirtschaftsgeographie, insb. Verkehr und Logistik)), course: Verkehr und Nachhaltigkeit, language: English, abstract: All over the history, mobility has been an integral part of life. Europe features a high level of its unmatched infrastructure, allowing that mobility very well. Not only mobility of people, also the conveyance of goods profits from it. It has become a part of the European lifestyle since the citizens of the continent make use of transport services as a matter of course. Although the term 'Europe' is used, the essay mainly contains remarks about the transport sector of the European Union with its 27 member states by now. Transportation is termed as "the totality of all translocations of persons [...] and goods [...] as well as news [...]", "which is to be geared to the needs for activity of men and to the environment." The transport sector comprehends the extent of passenger use, the frequency of the lanes, the usage of the different means of transportation and the covered distances. As the title of this essay indicates, it is to deal with the concepts and objectives of a common transport policy throughout the European Union. The central and decisive element in this matter is the White Paper 'European transport policy for 2010 - Time to decide', published at the Gothenburg European Council in 2001. This document contains the essential abstract objectives and concrete measures or concepts for a more sustainable transport policy across the Union territory. These goals and measures can roughly be assigned to the two main categories of performance-enhancement and climate protection. By having referred to the 2006 Mid-term review during the presentation of current situation in the European transport sector, most interim results have already been presented earlier. Generally, it becomes obvious that progr

This title was first published in 2001. The question this thesis attempts to answer is summarized as follows: what accounts for the amazing stability of Italian transport policy in the face of European challenges, given the fact that - as most national and European policy-makers readily believe - it is not capable of addressing the problem of the sector? This study analyzes the transport policy in Italy from the 1990s into the 21st century. It looks at how the two sub-sectors of surface transport, road haulage and raliways, have been managed by the public and private actors involved. In both sectors the policy appears to have failed, either by not offering a remedy to problems or by aggravating them further. The author believes that studying transport policy in Italy will shed light on the wider question of how national policy-making patterns are influenced by developments in the international environment; in this case looking closely at the influence of the European Union.