“If we pay attention to the road transport, there is one unified system working and this should apply to railways. We should have a unified railway system to boost the competition, growth and development in transport and economic sector. UNECE’s Unified Railway Law is the new legal railway regime, which plays as a land bridge between Europe, Asia and Middle East, facilitating international rail transport of goods and containers on the basis of a single contract of carriage,” said Francesco Dionori, Chief of Transport Networks & Logistics Section Sustainable Transport Division at UNECE, during the Railway Days Investment Summit, organized by Club Feroviar and the Romanian Railway Industry Association.
In 2013, a Joint Declaration towards Unified Railway Law was signed by the Transport Ministers of 38 States, recognizing the potential for efficient and seamless Euro-Asian rail transport caused by economic globalization and by ever increasing trade within the Euro Asia area. The ministers pledged to jointly develop and strengthen cooperation in the area of Euro-Asian rail transport.
The Euro-Asian railway transport involves and transits many countries, all members of UNECE and UNESCAP, with different national railway systems and structures as well as different legal regimes governing international rail transport. Establishing a unified set of transparent and predictable provisions and legal rules for Euro-Asian rail transport operations in all countries, will facilitate the crossing procedures, particularly for transit traffic, will significantly develop the railway sector and will enhance the competition with the other transport modes.
The UNECE Transport division is working to meet the challenges and opportunities, which envisage the infrastructure quality, the operational cross-border management, the digitalization of transport documents and innovations. Overcoming the national obstacles to harmonise this sector, removing the bottlenecks, implementing the national master plans which pave the way to an integrated transport system, are among most important issues that will contribute to the development of a sustainable transport system which paves the way to railway development.
Railways is the most sustainable transport mode and will achieve the Sustainable Agenda 2030, by reducing the emissions and the impact on the environment.
At UNECE Transport division, the Working Party on Rail Transport (SC.2), Working Party on Intermodal Transport and Logistics (WP.24) and Working Party on Customs Questions affecting Transport (WP.30), are working to develop the transport sector, based on sustainable transport modes.
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