Railway Days
Challenges for the Romanian railway sector in the context of the accession to the European Union
Club Feroviar Magazine organised between October 17th and 18th 2006 a series of events reunited under the title “Railway Days” – “Project 2007. Challenges for the railway system”.
With this occasion, there was held a series of conferences which end up, on October 18th, with an exhibition of rolling stock, set in Gara de Nord Railway Station. Among the companies that took part in the exhibition, besides the national freight and passenger railway operators, CFR Calatori and CFR Marfa, companies like ServTrans, Grup Feroviar Român, Softronic, Astra Vagoane Arad and Remaru Pascani were also present at the event. Stadler Company presented for the first time in Romania FLIRT EMU train, which would run on the Swiss railroads, SBB.
Important persons in the railway domain and representatives of the international institutions took part in the conferences.
Thus, Jonathan Scheele, the Chief of the Delegation of the European Commission in Romania , presented railway transport and the policy of the European Union from the point of view of the legislation and financing sources, the most important aspect tackled being the one of the lack of finances for the private operators in the railway system.
Ad Toet, Adviser for Eastern and Central Europe within the European Community of Railways, put emphasis on the fact that the European Union needs an efficient railway transport system in order to develop successfully, which brings to the idea of harmonising the legislative system, along with attracting projects of investments from outside the system.
In the first part of the series of conferences, Claudiu Dumitrescu, General Manager of the General Department of Infrastructure and Railway Transport, presented the development strategy of the Ministry of Transports, Constructions and Tourism in what railway transport is concerned.
A much appreciated intervention belonged to the Chairman of Seneca Group, Ray Chambers, who spoke about “The Commercial Restructuring of Romanian Railways”, discussing with the General Manager of CFR S.A. , Constantin Axinia, the modernisation strategy of Romanian Railways in the context of the accession to the European Union.
“The East-West cooperation in the railway domain”, presented by Miroslaw Kanclerz, CEE Manager of UIC, was completed by Alvaro Urech from INECO-TIFSA, representative of Galileo Joint Undertaking, with “Galileo Program and GRAIL Project”.
„Adapting the work frame of the Romanian Railway Authority to the European legislation”, the presentation of Mircea Arnautu, the Manager of the Department of Infrastructure within Romanian Railway Authority, welcomed the European legislation in the railway domain, presenting the changes which AFER would undertake starting with January 1st 2007.
Completing this aspect, Thierry Legrand, Programme Manager Transport and Packaging, within
Standards Development CEN, made an introduction in European standards in the railway sector. The theme was developed by the representative of UNIFE, Bernard von Wullerstorff, International Business Manager, who made some specifications regarding standardisation and innovation in railway industry.
An improvement of the international business environment in the railway domain from the point of view of the infrastructure administrators, as Joachim Kroll, General Secretary at RailNetEurope said, can only be done by creating an alliance of the railway infrastructure administrators in Europe .
The idea of cooperation at the level of the entire European Union was supported by Sorin Gîfei, Manager of the Department of Transports within IGP, who, representing COLPOFER, highlighted the idea of cooperation at the level of the railway administrators with the police forces in the domain and at the level of the railway companies for increasing the security and the safety on the railroads.
Local organisations outside Romania , such as Railway Industry Association (RIA), represented by Tim Gray, International Business Development Director, who presented the competencies of the British railway industry for Romanian Railways, were also present at the conferences.
Klaus Uhl, General Manager of Vienna Consult, presented the project „GueterBim – Viennese solutions for the urban ecological supply”.
The representative of Railistics, Kurt Bauer, highlighted “The financing systems for railway transport services in Europe ”. As for Romanian Commodities Exchange, represented by Diana Spinciu, Manager of Developing Legislation, it presented the most recent service on the market offered by RCE, “The availability market”.
Railway operators and the rolling stock producers who supply them could not have missed a conference of international interest. Thus, the General Manager of CFR Calatori, Alexandru Noaptes, made public the projects of adapting national passenger railway transport operator to the requirements of an European transport system, while Liviu Bobar, General Manager of CFR Marfa, presented the company he leads in the context of European competition.
As an open market cannot be devoid of competition, the General Manager of ServTrans Invest, George Buruiana, highlighted the current situation of the private freight railway operators in Romania , as well as the problems they are confronted with and the projects they aim at for the future.
As for the producers, they were represented by Siemens, Ansaldo and Swietelsky.
Ansaldo Segnalamento Ferroviario, represented by Luca Repetti, described the vision of the company in what railway interoperability in concerned, in all its stages from vision to becoming reality, while Siemens and the Manager of Rolling Stock at Siemens Romania came with the last innovations in the domain of the rolling stock.
The international provider of rolling stock for the construction and the maintenance of railroads, one of the constructors that work on Pan-European Corridor IV, Swietelsky Company, represented by Helmut Schreiner, General Manager of Swietelsky CF SRL Romania, presented RPM 2002, the high capacity machines for the rehabilitation of the railroads.
The Conferences and the rolling stock exhibition organized within the event Railway Days gave the participants the chance to get acquainted with the problems, the solutions and the projects in the domain, as well as the challenges launched for those who act in the railway sector. The meeting with the representatives of the international organisations and the competing companies was a good opportunity to tackle the Romanian projects and establish business contacts.