At the end of October, the International Union of Railways (UIC) and Russian Railways (RZD) organized the international conference “Next Station”, the main topic focusing on the connections between railway transport and the civil society. The previous editions of the conference were organized in Rome, Paris and Brussels, while this year’s edition, the fourth, was organized for the first time in a railway station. It was the Kazansky rail station in Moscow, situated in the middle of the Russian capital and at the same time, one of the largest transport hubs in Moscow.
During this conference, participants discussed about new development trends in this railway transport sector, but also other up-to-date problems, such as the access of new operators, new horizons in the railway services and intermodality areas, development based on urban planning conditions in areas adjacent to rail stations and rail station sustainability and progress examples. The participants included representatives of the national governments, international organizations, financial institutions, railway transport operators and representatives of rail station management, local authorities, but also services suppliers.
“Today train stations are evolving into major intermodal transportation hubs, centres of gravity and redistribution of passenger flows. Thus it is equally important to seek answers to a whole range of questions regarding their efficiency and commercial attractiveness of passenger station operations and achieving maximum performance efficiency”, declared UIC Chairman and RZD President Vladimir Yakunin.
“The content of Next Station reflects the diversity and complexity of the station’s role starting from the function of the nodes like the beating hearts of the railway network. Railway stations have gradually become organised, transformed and developed to host all those passing through – whether travellers or not – and to offer board, lodging, or other everyday ser-vices. Stations have become an interface between all the various modes of mobility. They have thus become the mediators of railway mobility”, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director-General, underlined.
The conference included a high-level round table on the conference theme “The Station of the future: How to link Railways and Society?” and a series of sessions dedicated to all strategic issues of railway station planning, development, financing and operations. Parallel sessions focused in particular on general interest themes, such as a new approach of governance and financing, innovations, businesses and services, station design around the world, stations as intermodality centres, integrated protection for railway stations, but also methods of connecting stations with the city.
One of the first conclusions of the Moscow rail station conference pointed out that strategically, the railway station is increasingly a link for seamless communication between trains and between transport modes (serving a multimodal transportation system), between travellers and non-travellers (city inhabitants), between activities (working activities, trade, leisure, culture), between the mobility world and the urban environment.
Regarding social aspects, the participants concluded that rail stations are increasingly less limited to their transport function. The new and modern rail station is an essential part of urban environment. Most of the times, the rail station combines the optimisation of its functions with preserving the city’s architectural and historic heritage. Also, in the large European cities, and not only, rail stations host cultural activities.
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