Seeing as railway transport is slowly becoming the main supplier of passenger and freight transport services, due to the extension of high-speed networks and the technical improvement of the conventional infrastructure (overlaid with the proper amendment of the organisational and administrative procedures for domestic and international traffic), the railway is now seen as a new branch of activity, which relates better to the other elements of society.
The increase in the number of kilometres of high-speed track has determined an environmentalist group to mobilize all Europeans and “fight” against the environmental impact of the new networks. Good or bad, this movement forces rail transport system developers to use a more sophisticated communication system, able to enhance in a transparent manner the positive and adverse effects of the new lines. This transparency will eventually contribute in a real way to the limitation of the negative effects, as well as to the consolidation of a sustainable partnership between the railway operator and the community. The railways, however, which until recently were perceived as an insignificant element of competitiveness on the local and long-distance transport markets,have now managed to “hit” the interests of carriers from other sectors. The cancellation of several flights between large urban centres or the reduction in the market share owned by individual transport are probably no longer considered as positive effects for the society, but also as adverse effects for various well-established businesses, generating negative comments on the railway network extension projects.
A similar competition has been foreseen also between railway and maritime transport in attracting transcontinental freight. According to several papers from the international environment, Chinese manufacturers are extremely interested in opening permanent maritime routes in the Arctic Ocean, in order to shorten the transport routes between China and Western Europe by approximately 6.500 km. In this new context and considering the political openness in the last decades, the apparently unconditional support of the Eurasian railway routes may disappear in the search for apparently easier solutions and with reduced initial investments. Hence, Sweden’s decision to unify the development and maintenance entities of the four transport infrastructures can be seen as a progressionist measure, designed for an easy and transparent evaluation of the investment priorities on any of the four infrastructures.
Considering this combination of factors, some of which I will not mention here, the players on the Eurasian railway market should try to recapture the innovative technical and administrative spirit, in order to place railway transport higher on the hierarchical ladder and thus justify the current trend leading to this eco-friendly type of transport.
by Ştefan Roşeanu
Share on:
