Rail Freight Portal

Market Place Seminar - Rail Connections between Europe and the Iberian Peninsula

Gustav Manding — 2010-08-10T12:39:01Z

The market place seminar is a platform which aims to create opportunities for increased cooperation and business development within the rail sector by offering a common platform for railway undertakings, freight forwarders and customers.

This year the seminar will be organized in Barcelona and it will focus on Rail Freight Connections between Europe and the Iberian Peninsula:

Development of the hinterland of the harbor of Barcelona
Consequences of the new UIC line and the French/Spanish border issue
Short Sea Shipping: competition or a complementary solution for rail freight business
Relationship of freight forwarders to harbours: examples of best practices
Liberalisation of the Spanish rail freight market

RENFE, the Spanish state railway, and Port of Barcelona will co-organize the seminar together with FIATA and UIC. The conferences will take place on 2-3 November 2010 at the World Trade Center (seminar venue).

We would like to wish you welcome to our event and we look forward to meeting you!

10th International workshop on Railway Noise

Delphine Margot — 2010-07-15T07:43:18Z

The IWRN is a unique international workshop that started in Derby, UK in 1976 specifically for the discussion of railway noise and vibration among world experts and practical engineers. Since then, it has grown into a gathering of over 100 experts in the field of railway noise and vibration. The last Workshop was held in Feldafing, Germany in 2007.

Continuing the tradition of previous IWRN's, this Workshop will provide a unique forum for researchers and experts in railway noise and vibration. Both the time schedule and the venue of the workshop intend to enhance vivid exchange of experience and viewpoints amongst the world's leading researchers and experts. There are no parallel sessions proposed for IWRN10, to allow comprehensive discussion of topics.

The Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) is delighted at the chance to act as organizer of the 10th Workshop – the first to be held in Asia. The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Ministry of the Environment also support the Workshop.

Making the intermodal connection: the role of terminals

Delphine Margot — 2010-07-15T07:41:27Z

In December 1994, an Intermodal Freight Terminal of the Future Conference was convened in the afterglow of the passage of ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act – 1991). The conference agenda was concentrated on matters of terminal design — as well as operations and information technologies. There has not been any comparable gathering since then. This conference is planned to resurrect and update the topic, adding a global perspective — with a focus on intermodal operations.

EcoTransIT Workshop

Delphine Margot — 2010-07-15T07:37:35Z

EcoTransIT: the Ecological Transport Information

EcoTransIT calculates environmental impacts of any freight transport. Thereby it is possible to determine the energy consumption, CO2 and exhaust emissions transported by rail, road, ship and aircraft in any combination. EcoTransIT is free of charge for any non-commerical use.

The workshop organised in October will be the opportunity, among others, to show how to use the tool, give some customer cases, with technical discussions and discuss the evolution of the tool.

Introduction

Delphine Margot — 2010-05-17T20:20:14Z


Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General

It is a pleasure to invite you to this second edition of the UIC Global Rail Freight Conference organised at the kind invitation of the Russian Railways RZD and their President Mr Vladimir Yakunin. This conference is one of the leading events in the international rail freight sector, dedicated to top executives and decision-makers, rail and logistics professionals, customers, influential politicians and regulators, and institutions from across the globe.

This day and age sees international trade flows creating new perspectives and needs for efficient, safe and economically viable transport, boosting sustainable performances – particularly on long-distance routes. This evolution reflects current growth patterns in world trade and constitutes the basis for a successful globally-oriented rail freight network. Cross-border corridors and modal logistics complementarity along many development issues are the tools for regional and international development. The International Union of Railways (UIC) together with its railway members is fully committed to meeting these new challenges and working together to transform these perspectives into reality.

I would also like to pay tribute to the Russian Railways, pioneers in the long-distance freight and economic exchanges between Asia and Europe and a major contributor to Russia's economic growth, whose role is crucial for railway cooperation. Finally, I take this opportunity to warmly thank Mr Vladimir Yakunin for his kind invitation and for welcoming us in St Petersburg.

Jean-Pierre LOUBINOUX UIC Director General

Programme

Delphine Margot — 2010-05-17T20:20:08Z

The conference will take place at the Astoria and Angelterre hotels in Saint Petersburg on 6-7 July. Participants who arrive to Saint Petersburg the day before, on 5 July, will be able to register and are warmly welcome to a drinks reception from 19.00 to 20.30.

Day 1 (July 6)


Conference programme 6 July

The conference will kick-off with an opening ceremony followed by a grand opening session. High-level speakers such as Vladimir Yakunin, President (RZD), and Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, General Director (UIC), will welcome participants to Saint Petersburg. The first day will consist of a four-part programme.

Day 2 (July 7)


Conference programme 7 July

The second day will address important topics such as "Wagonload - thriving in North America, surviving in Europe?" and Combined traffic "The need to drive efficiency". The conference will end with a grand closing session.

Speakers

Gustav Manding — 2010-05-17T20:19:59Z

The Global Rail Freight Conference will be a significant event in the international rail freight calendar 2010. Top executives of the railways undertakings and important decision makers will be participating in this appealing event.

Confirmed speakers:

Vladimir Yakunin, President RZD
Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, General Director UIC
Dr. Karl-Friedrich Rausch, Board Member DB
Dr. Sebastian Jürgens, Member of the Board HHLA
Lance Hockridge, CEO Queensland Rail
Alexey Averin, Vice President International RZD
Stig Nerdal, CEO Transportutveckling
Dr. Alexander Hedderich, CEO of DB Schenker Rail
Dr. Christoph Seidelmann, Vice President B.I.C
Ferdinand Schmidt, Member of the Executive Board RCA
Brooks A. Bentz, Partner - Supply Chain Transportation, Accenture
Julian Smith, Partner - Global rail sector and transport infrastructure leader, PwC
Henry Posner III, President and Chairman Railroad and Development Corporation
Jacques Koch, General Manager, Purchasing & Procurement Europe ArcelorMittal
Dr. Martin Streichfuss, Partner, Roland Berger

Interview

Delphine Margot — 2010-05-17T20:19:35Z

“Our goal is to create a global rail freight summit which should be the reference for rail and logistics conferences. This event should be cemented in the rail freight calendar and be repeated annually with the aim of tackling the most interesting railway topics on a recurrent basis,” says Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General.


Jean-Pierre LOUBINOUX, UIC Director General (Copyright: J-J D'ANGELO)

Following its success in New Delhi, GRFC 2010 marks its second edition by bringing together the sector's top executives and decision makers, rail and logistics professionals, customers, influential politicians and regulators, and institutions from across the globe for an integrated and interactive event.

Under the patronage of the UN and in cooperation with a large number of international organisations, the conference will feature leading rail freight figures speaking on key freight issues.

This conference will serve as a launch pad for the exchange of best practices, networking with rail professionals from all around the world and, in addition, furnish them with the opportunity to discuss new perspectives and needs for efficient, safe and economically viable transport solutions. “The Trans-Siberian rail route, the major freight route between Asia and Europe, offers a fully developed container service across the Eurasian land bridge. With its central position the Russian Railways plays a pivotal role in the success of cooperation and development between these two continents. This is why we decided to organize this conference in St Petersburg”, explains Jean-Pierre Loubinoux.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the conference?

It will be a two-day conference covering the most relevant global freight issues. Key topics such as how the global recession is affecting rail opportunities will be debated as well as the customer benefits of having rail as a base in their global supply chain. “UIC organizes conferences with the aim of facilitating a platform for networking among rail professionals and deliberating rail opportunities and problems throughout the industry. For these reasons we have invited top-level executives from all over the world to provide you with the most up-to-date information of the rail sector”, says Jean-Pierre Loubinoux.

Could you tell us more about UIC's role in the freight sector?


Oliver Sellnick, UIC Freight Director

“UIC's role in the freight sector is to promote rail freight by assisting members to either increase revenues with an improved competitiveness of products or to reduce costs with harmonized operational, information and business processes. To achieve this, UIC works as a facilitator and neutral manager of multilateral cooperation in non-competitive areas, and organises knowledge transfer with the help benchmarks, workshops and conferences. The UIC Freight Forum comprises project groups developing cooperative solutions and services for combined traffic, wagonload and intercontinental landbridges. It entertains standing groups to improve operations and to apply information technology, to stimulate quality improvements and to facilitate mutual wagon use”, says Oliver Sellnick, UIC Freight Director.

What are the key trends in the industry?

Combined traffic has been the only growth segment of rail for decades. It has facilitated the integration of rail into logistic chains and has helped rail to benefit from the dynamic growth of container-based sea traffic between the continents. However, railways usually complain about a low margin in Europe leading to a lack of investments into capacity. While the need for infrastructure investments to resolve bottlenecks of track and terminal networks is undisputed, railway operators, intermodal operators, terminal managers and infrastructure managers have to work together in a more intelligent way if they want to optimise the capacity utilisation of the given infrastructure at any time. The « Masterplan 2015 for Combined Traffic in Europe » (UIC Diomis report) provides a whole set of proposals for all stakeholders. It points to a stronger industrialisation of combined traffic creating sustainable economics without which railways will not be able to fulfil the public expectations for a modal shift. Railroads in other parts of the world have achieved higher levels of efficiency. An exchange during the Global Rail Freight Conference might stimulate the development.

Wagonload is still for most of the larger European networks the lion's share of their business and even more so of their costs. Two strategies have emerged in the last few years. Trenitalia, Fret SNCF and RENFE believe in converting wagonload business as far as possible to new production schemes not so different from block trains. CD Cargo, CFL Cargo, DB Schenker Rail, Green Cargo, Rail Cargo Austria, SBB Cargo and SNCB Cargo have set up the international production alliance Xrail , based on the assumption that a standardised, transparent and reliable product will allow to grow profitable long distance wagonload business in Europe. “But considering the commercial success on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, isn't there anything the Europeans could learn from North America? I believe capacity management could be the key to become both reliable as well as to reduce the costs”, says Oliver Sellnick.

What are the benefits of using rail freight?

Apart from being the safest transport mode, rail is the most environmentally-friendly mode. Today the global share of CO2 emissions from transport is 23%, and it is expected to rise to 33% by 2050. Rail can curb the emissions of the transport sector by offering low carbon logistics solutions. One example, which will facilitate the awareness of rail freight's competitiveness, is the European Environment Agency-approved EcoTransIT tool. “Accessible via the internet, it calculates the carbon emissions produced by transporting a defined tonnage of freight in Europe by road, water, air or rail. In May we launch the world version of this tool, which will enable us to provide carbon foot-prints of logistical chains on global level.” explains Oliver Sellnick.

What does the future hold for rail freight? What are the key drivers for success? Strong players have been using the times of reduced demand during the crisis for streamlining processes and for intensifying the dialogue with existing and potential customers. The key will be – more than ever – how railways can deliver on the promise to create value for their customers. Rail Freight has enormous potential if the railways can create seamless transport solutions tailored to customer needs and embedded to their logistic chains.

Finally, to conclude, what would the last key message be from your side?

“This will be an exciting conference and excellent opportunity to share views with a world network of rail freight specialists and actors .Don't miss it ” says Jean-Pierre Loubinoux. “It will provide you with a unique overview of the latest trends of the railway sector from a business point of view and give you the opportunity to exchange ideas in a global but at the same time intimate atmosphere,” says Oliver Sellnick.

Press releases 2009

Aymeric Boniou — 2010-04-12T08:21:03Z

- Press releases

Press releases 2010

Aymeric Boniou — 2010-04-12T08:21:02Z

- Press releases