Railway Days – Railway Investment Summit in the Wider Black Sea Area 2012 has brought together, on October 9-10, 300 decision makers from over 50 states, participants which brought to discussion the vital need of investments that have to be allocated to projects. Therefore, the projects initiated and those to be implemented will generate the increase of the traffic flow on the Europe-Asia axis and the development of economies in the region.
The strategic partnerships, the conso-lidation of the dialogue between the authorities and the business environment, the initiation of projects in the region, as well as the development of the railway industry, are decisive objectives for an efficient transport system that should not face technical, technological, legal barriers in the freight and passenger mobility.
After a financial crisis which had a negative impact on the states in the Wider Black Sea Area (WBSA), the gradual economic recovery and the new directions based on the strategic objectives announced by these countries are noticed in terms of projects launched by the authorities.
The initiated infrastructure projects aim at integrating national networks into international traffic, which contributes to the dynamicity of freight and passenger flows, the increase of the railway transport share and the development of economies.
Projects such as BALO (which provides a railway link for the container traffic between Anatolia and Europe), Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (corridor which will provide since 2013 a new route between Asia and Europe), the organisation of the freight traffic on routes such as Cologne-Kosekoy (Germany-Turkey ), the container transport services Halkali (Turkey)-Giengen (the Czech Republic), Istanbul- Ljubljana, Islamabad-Teheran-Istanbul, Silk Wind (which provides multimodal transport services on the axis Europe-Caucasus-Asia), are some viable examples which determine the consolidation of transport relations between the two continents, projects which were brought to discussion on the occasion of the Railway Days, an event organised by Club Feroviar and the Romanian Railway Industry Association, under the aegis of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and of the Association of the European Railway Industry (UNIFE).
The main purpose of all projects is the connection and the integration into the international transport corridors. For this purpose, Armenia is interested in investing in the railway transport infrastructure for the increase of its efficiency, at national level and at the same time for the creation of viable routes internationally. Integration into internatio-nal transport network is a vital element for Armenia, which determines the development of infrastructure projects aimed at increasing traffic flows not only at national level but also at international level. Armenia is an important transport node for the north-south axis, offering a huge potential for freight transit.
In this region, Iran is also part of the countries that begin to base more and more their commercial activities on railway transport. The projects it carries out aim at neighbouring states and the strategic ones, to develop the transport infrastructure and the freight traffic, but with a high level of integration in international transport corridors.
Iran’s strategy on the long run aims at doubling the railway network, all provinces being connected to the railway network for this purpose.
Turkey is a state which, due to its geographical position from which it benefits in the Eurasian space, effectively becomes the transport and the logistics “bridge” between Asia and Europe. With trade amounting to USD 375 Billion (in 2011), this country has a well defined objective: by 2023,
foreign trade should reach USD 1.2 Trillion. In order to reach this target, Turkey decided to focus on the railway infrastructure and to allocate massive investments to increase its quality, in logistics centres necessary for freight volumes which register constant increases and also to launch new railway freight transport services for the international traffic.
Although it still faces the effects of the financial crisis, the railway infrastructure development represents a priority in terms of railway transport, also for Greece the objectives established by Trainose (the Greek railway company) for the next three years aiming at connecting the railway network to ports, logistics and industrial centres, which will generate the increase of the market share of railway transport.
Western Balkans needs massive investments
For the socio-economic development, the states in the Western Balkans benefit from financing for infrastructure projects, and, together with the EU instruments, the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) grants facilities for the infrastructure development in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Therefore, the programme for the Balkan region (SEETO –South East Europe Transport Observatory) covers, besides the other transport modes, 4,807 km of railway line, 10 maritime ports. As regards the projects for the rehabilitation of the railway infrastructure, the 7 states have received funds amounting to EUR 109 Million (in 2010). But “the railway network in the Western Balkans still faces insufficient investments, the allocated investments being directed to isolated railway line sections and not for the improvement of the overall network. Because of the infrastructure problems, its share is below 50%. Practically, the biggest problem in this region is represented by the infrastructure deterioration”, declared Yanni Papapanagiotou, Transport Sector Key Expert within WBIF.
Nevertheless, investments must be redirected to the optimisation of the railway infrastructure performance, especially since EU funds are increasing that the states begin to obtain the candidate statute.
In the railway infrastructure sector, Bosnia and Herzegovina benefits from funds for the two railway projects (the reconstruction of the lines Sarajevo – Podlugovi and Doboj-Maglaj). In Albania, the railway network can play an important role for the economic increase, if the infrastructure and the safety systems are rehabilitated, and under the circumstances, the use of the infrastructure will increase. Therefore, the project implementation for the modernisation and extension of the signalling system is necessary to be subsequently integrated in EU systems.
As far as Serbia is concerned, the most important project consists in rehabilitating Corridor X, the modernisation of the line Trupale-Presevo-border with Macedonia being aimed at. In this case, several strategies are considered: the reconstruction of the most critical line points, the rehabilitation of the entire line, the construction of a new double-track line.
As regards the railway projects in FYR Macedonia, recently, the Ministry of Transport has invited companies to express interest in a consultancy contract for rehabilitating a section of Corridor VIII. The contract involves consultancy for the modernisation on the 30.8-km Kumanovo-Beljakovce section. The contract for the first phase of the project will begin in February 2013 and will last for 24 months.
“The problems faced by these states are of financial nature, due to the lack of investments, of administrative nature, which is poor, but also to the lack of investors. Of these states, Croatia has a better situation, since it is an EU candidate country and it receives a significant financing through European instruments”, declared Papapanagiotou.
Share on:
