4 WEEKS TO GO: NEXT STOP, LONDON!

The 2nd annual European Rail Congress is almost upon us. The Summit and Awards are taking place on 11th November in London and delegates are booking fast and excitement is building. If you haven't already booked your place, now is the time to REGISTER and plan your travel arrangements.

João Aguiar Machado, Director General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) will be delivering a keynote speech at the prestigious Awards ceremony, setting out what challenges lie ahead for the rail sector and for the Commission.

This summit will examine how effective the European "Shift to Rail" initiative - which was backed by the European Parliament earlier this year - will be in boosting rails market share.

Confirmed speakers include:-

Brian Simpson, Chair of ERC Awards Judging Panel and former MEP
Michael Roberts, Director General, UK Rail Delivery Group
Jeremy Long, CEO - European Business, MTR Corporation
Lord Berkeley, Board Member, European Rail Freight Association
Niall Simmons, Head of Bids Engineering, Bombardier Transportation
Monika Heiming, Executive Director, European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM)
Alistair McPhee, Vice President Transportation Systems, Thales UK
Mioara Bourceanu, President of the Board, Grup Feroviar Roman

To book your place at this year's European Rail Congress please click here

High-speed rail in the UK has come of age.

Author: Nicola Shaw, CEO, HS1 Ltd

This year, Eurostar and the Channel Tunnel both celebrate their 20th birthday and Southeastern marks the fifth anniversary of domestic high-speed services between London and the south east of England; this is therefore an appropriate time to reflect back on what we have achieved over that time in delivering these new services.

The stations served by the UK's only high-speed line are thriving. Since its reopening seven years ago, St Pancras International has been the nation's favourite station every year following the redevelopment, topping the National Passenger Survey. We have seen growth at St Pancras both in terms of footfall and dwell time; more than 48 million people visit the station each year, spending on average 40 minutes visiting the shops, bars and cafés before they board a train. Indeed, for more than 12 million of the people who come to the station, the station itself is the destination.

Amongst those who are there to travel, though, we have seen impressive increases to the numbers of passengers using the high-speed line, both domestically and internationally. In just the last year Eurostar carried more than ten million passengers for the first time in its history, while Southeastern's domestic services have seen an increase of more than 60 per cent in passengers at Ashford and Ebbsfleet since the line opened.

Central to this success is our service-led business model, which has been celebrated by the UK's rail regulator as leading the way in Britain's rail industry. We pride ourselves on the satisfaction of our customers, whether they be train operating companies and freight companies, the retailers within our stations or the passengers and shoppers whose numbers continue to grow year-on-year.

READ MORE

A case for railways. Why freight rail is the Cinderella of transportation and why that is a good thing

Author: Mrs. Mioara BOURCEANU, Chairperson of the Board, Grup Feroviar Roman - company of Grampet Group

It has been about three years since the European Commission's White Paper on Transport "Roadmap to a single European transport area - Towards a competitive and resource-efficient transport system". Some things have moved forward with ease, some have slightly nudged and some still need our undivided attention.

In one of the early paragraphs, the above-mentioned document made a very clear warning with just one phrase: Still, the transport system is not sustainable. Looking 40 years ahead, it is clear that transport cannot develop along the same path.

Oil dependence, CO2 emissions, congestion costs, and accessibility gap, social costs of accidents and noise, and an ever growing need for more competitiveness and for more growth are all not just key benchmarks, but are the questions which need answering if we all want a better Europe.

READ MORE