IRFC 2022
The International Rail Forum & Conference (IRFC) 2022 took place from 5th to 7th October, 2022, in Prague. The motto of the conference was “Let’s build a new generation of railways together”. It was a meeting of international experts full of fruitful discussion and interesting presentations from a wide range of speakers. It had five expert sessions, plus an opening session with keynote speakers.
The most esteemed guests of the opening session had the opportunity to have an informal chat before the official kick-off. This informal discussion included the Czech minister of transport – Martin Kupka, the second deputy prime minister of Luxembourg – François Bausch, head of cabinet of the transport commissioner – Walter Götz, and ambassadors of France, Sweden, and Japan: Alexis Dutertre, Fredrik Jörgensen and Hideo Suzuki. I had the honour to oversee the entire programme of the conference. It was officially kicked off by Miroslav Fukan, CEO of OLTIS Group. The transport commissioner Adina Vǎlean had a video message, welcoming everyone to the conference.
Opening speech of Mr. Martin Kupka, Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic, highlighted the priorities of rail transport which Czech presidency was driven. Railway transport forms the backbone of the national transport system to become an environmentally friendly and safe mode of transport. Following the European Green Deal, rail must significantly reduce emissions in the transport sector and the associated promotion of environmentally friendly transport modes. We need a network that is robust in terms of capacity, secured and energy efficient, with as few bottlenecks as possible. Increasing the capacity of the rail infrastructure, focus on the construction of high-speed lines and finalising the revision of the TEN-T regulation are the main challenges for Czech rail sector to ensure sustainable connectivity throughout the European Union with proposed extension of EU transport corridors to the territories of Ukraine and Moldova. Other speakers in the first session, from the European Commission and sectoral organisations, also mentioned the need for digitization and automation, preparing the rail sector for continuation in negotiating several important legislative proposals of the Fit for 55 Package, which will contribute to decarbonisation of transport.
Opening session
Session 1 - Rail Sector Contribution to the EU Green Deal
Session 2 - Railway Interoperability and Standardisation
The moderator of the second session, ERA Executive Director Josef Doppelbauer, summarised the presentations of all speakers and panellists on the need for standardisation and interoperability into a concise statement that without standardisation, interoperability and implementation of ERTMS with the contribution of digital automatic coupling, it is impossible to create a resilient, capable and above all safe European railway. It will not be an easy road, it will be long and full of compromises, but the sooner we start on it, the sooner we can benefit from the results of further research projects.
Session 3 – EU’s Research and Innovations in a Globalized World
The second day of the conference picked up right where the first day left off. Research and innovation under the umbrella of the Europe's Rail JU partnership, cooperation between Member States and the exploitation of synergies are essential for the further development of the rail sector. This was the main summary message of the moderator of the third session, Carlo Borghini, Executive Director of the Rail Partnership. He also recalled that the railway is not an isolated element in the transport system, that it must be involved in intelligent transport systems, and that it must take advantage of the opportunities for cooperation with EUSPA and other institutions in order not to fall behind technologically.
Session 4 – High Speed Rail System as a Mobility Driver
The fourth and fifth sections were very closely related to each other. The section on high-speed transport was moderated by Ondřej Kovařík MEP and the fifth section on TEN-T by Mr Wim van de Camp, Special Adviser to the Commissioner for Transport. It was stated that connecting the most important business centres and capitals of all EU countries as soon as possible by a high-speed rail network is not just an ambitious plan, but a necessary necessity. It will not only reduce the carbon footprint, increase the capacity of the conventional rail network, but also enable better and more efficient assistance to any Member State or candidate country in the event of any crisis. The example of assistance to the Ukrainian Railways, whose representatives have clearly and precisely defined their needs, makes this abundantly clear. The speakers in both sessions also made it clear that great attention should be paid to physical and cyber security and that critical transport infrastructure in the EU should also be built on the principle of dual use for military and civilian mobility.
Session 5 – TEN-T - Transcontinental Resilient Network
Accompanying events
Because it was not possible to cover all topics in the conference itself, there were separate meetings the day before the conference covering the topics of DAC, ERTMS, and TAF/TAP TSI.
Social and technical events
Each evening there was a dinner for conference participants. On the first day, the Gala Dinner was sponsored by Czech Railways. On the second day of the conference, there was a “Czech Dinner”, which included a river cruise. This evening was sponsored by DAKO-CZ. The last day of the conference was dedicated to a technical visit to the most modern regional railway in the Czech Republic - the Plum Railway line. From the feedback of the visitors it was obvious that AŽD Praha, the owner and operator of this railway, is doing its job at the highest possible level.
All in all, the conference met all its objectives, exceeded expectations and became a truly open forum for cultured discussion across a very broad, sometimes controversial, spectrum of the railway system.
