The European Rail Congress runs across 12th-13th November in London and brings together the European railway industry to discuss and debate important developments that will determine the future of the European rail sector.

Rail has strong advantages over other forms of land transport. It provides efficient, high quality and safe connectivity across Europe; reduces Europe's emission of greenhouse gases; boosts jobs and economic growth; and facilitates European competitiveness.

Its railway industry employs around 800,000 workers with more indirect employment in manufacturing and rail related services, generating a turnover of €73bn. Growth is expected to reach 2.7% each year for the next five years, producing further jobs.

More than 8 billion passenger journeys are made by train each year across Europe. As the greenest form of major transport, boosting the switch to rail has the potential to further help reduce greenhouse gases.

Rail is also critical to joining up the trans-European transport network which we need for economic growth and efficiency. A truly unified transport network will deliver safer, smoother and less congested travel, with shorter journey times.

With such obvious benefits, why has rail been unable to occupy the mode share it deserves? While its market share across passenger transport is stable, it still only remains around 6%, while freight's share is falling.

The European Commission believes the answer lies in the fragmented nature of its network and market and has published proposals for the Fourth Railway Package which it says will help rail to thrive. The proposals aim to develop a strong and competitive rail transport industry through opening up the rail transport market to competition; improving the interoperability and safety of national networks; and developing rail transport infrastructure.

View the latest agenda and book your place now at www.europeanrailcongress.com



READ MORE

The inaugural European Rail Summit and Awards is set to bring together members of the railway industry from a range of countries across the continent to discuss current issues that are relevant for rail operators, regulators, suppliers and ultimately the passenger as the end-user that benefits from a well-performing rail industry.

One of the issues that is currently of relevance to the rail industry throughout Europe is the European Train Control System (ETCS) that continues to be introduced as a new standard. While some countries have been using their own signalling standards and systems for some time now, ETCS provides cross-border interoperability and a common ground for train operators.

In the UK, Richard Tomlin, Signalling Project Manager at Hitachi Rail Europe speaks about the benefits of the European Train Control System (ETCS) and Hitachi Rail's involvement in this.

ETCS has been discussed in the rail industry, but it is not yet widely known. Can you give us a short introduction to ETCS?

The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a common signalling and train protection system which has been developed in Europe. Trackside equipment, on-board systems and signalling control centres communicate to provide the driver in-cab information electronically. This is particularly relevant for high-speed train services, where automatic protection systems and in-cab signalling information is vital to safe operations. The joint European effort in specifying this system also enables smoother cross-border services, where the need to switch from one signalling system to the other is removed. ETCS is part of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and many systems have already been implemented around the world.

READ MORE