The European transport sector is facing a huge challenge that must be adapted to reduce its impact on the environment and to fight climate change, relying on railways, which is the most sustainable transport mode and the single one who achieved the reduction of its emissions.
Declaring 2021 the ‘European Year of Rail’, the European Commission is investing significantly in rail infrastructure, and focusing their energies on moving passengers and freight to rail. “The challenge for me this year is to see rail become the driving force it once was. Rail is one unsung hero of clean, efficient transport and our objectives, as outlined in our strategy, are to increase rail freight by 50% and to double high–speed rail by 2030,” Adina Vălean, the European Commissioner for Transport said during the 10th International Railway Summit.
The four–day summit, which was supported by UIC, took place online for the first time, from 23 to 26 February 2021. Christian Kern, Former Federal Chancellor of Austria, and Gianluigi Castelli, Chairman of the International Union of Railways (UIC) and Italian State Railways (FSI), were amongst the influential decision–makers which addressed the viewers.
Before the journey to sustainable mobility can be resumed, the first step for the rail sector is to recover from the serious impact of COVID-19. Regaining passenger confidence, keeping trains and stations safe, and the possibility of vaccine passports to stimulate international travel were among the topics explored during the summit.
Elisabeth Werner, the Director of Land Transport at the European Commission, outlined the key elements of the European Year of Rail strategy, many of which involved innovation – increasing digitalisation, making rail more affordable and accessible, integrating networks and ticketing and expanding high speed infrastructure.
The importance of digitalisation and remote connectivity is essential for sustainable and reliable rail transport services. Thus, Carlo Borghini, the Executive Director of the research and innovation programme Shift2Rail, highlighted this crucial issue and has announced that the European Commission had just adopted a proposal for the establishment of Shift2Rail’s successor, Europe’s Rail, which will deliver the objectives of the Green Deal to tackle the climate change and environmental degradation.
At the summit, variety of sessions looked at how predictive maintenance for infrastructure and rolling stock and closely monitoring passenger flow can improve operational efficiency and reduce the need for onsite support.
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