The 7th International Rail Forum & Conference (IRFC2020) will be held in Prague between 1st and 3rd April 2020 under the slogan “Let’s build a new generation of railways together”. We asked the conference organising committee chairwoman, Jarmila Nováková from OLTISGroup the organising company, about the ongoing preparations.
What will the upcoming seventh year of this popular conference bring?
First and foremost a new attractive conference format is being prepared, in which each presentation section will be followed by an open expert discussion with selected specialists. Individual sections will be led by knowledgeable anchor-persons, specialists in the given field, who, with their attending word, will link the opinions presented by the speakers with the comments and experiences given by the members of audience in the second part of each section. We believe that this will develop an open dialogue between the experts,interesting to the spectator. At the same time, we would like to give participants in the forum the opportunity to take part in this discussion in the form of online questions that they will be able to post through a web application that they will be introduced to in advance.
What topics will IRFC 2020 address and who will handle the demanding work of anchor-persons?
The first section “Transport in the EU 2021” will be ledby CER Executive Director Libor Lochman. Individual speakers will talk about the implementation of the 4thrailway package, liberalisation on the European railway, but above all the visions and challenges for the European railway sector by 2030.
The second section on “ERA as a European authority” will be fronted by the Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Railways, Josef Doppelbauer. The presentations will include brief summaries of the most significant change in rail interoperability and safety, which is the transformation of ERA into a European system authority. The presentations and the subsequent panel discussion will also include views on the implementation of ERTMS and its new attributes, on a new way of authorising vehicles and on developments in this area in the coming period.
Section with theme “Research and innovation after 2021 – Motivation for Central and Eastern European countries” will be run by Carlo Borghini, Executive Director of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking. Views on this issue from the perspective of international organisations and EU Member States will be given in the presentations. The topic of further development in the institutional partnership within HORIZON EUROPE, namely Shift2Rail2 will also be discussed.
The fourth section will focus on high-speed rail transport in the Central European area. This is a priority issue for the Czech Republic, and for that reason the section compering is entrusted to Mr. Martin Kolovratník, Deputy Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.The presentations will focus on the development of HSRT in the eastern part of Europe, their integration into TEN-T and also on the comparison of individual HSRTconcepts in Europe and the world.
The fifth section, run by TEN-T coordinator Mr MatthieuGrosch, will focus on linking the European TEN-T network with the “New Silk Road” initiative. The presentations as well as the ensuing discussion will focus on the areas in which interconnections should be developed in order to ensure a smooth flow of goods east-west from the Asian region to Europe. Political and business intentions, as well as legislation relating to these interconnections, will be discussed.
TAF/TAP TSI Forum will be led by Mr Yann Seimandi of CER, Senior Adviser to ERA and research and interoperability related issues. The presentations and discussions of the rail sector representatives will mainly relate to the implementation of the TAF/TAP TSI in problematic areas, that is to say small and medium-sized carriers. The ERA representatives will also introduce to the conference participants the process of reviewing the TAP TSI and TAF TSI, and the participants will be able to engage with their experience and views on further developments in this area.
Who will attend IRFC 2020?
Among the participants we expect a high share of top representatives of major carriers, infrastructure managers, railway industry companies, railway system suppliers, customers and freight forwarding companies that have decided to keep up with the fast pace of development in the transport market.
A message at the end?
Do not miss this exceptional railway event in 2020 in our country and meet the railway world in the heart of Europe.Source: Oltis Group
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