EastEuro Link's CEE Railways Conference 2009 took place in the Romanian Capital on 27th and 28th April 2009. The conference was attended by a range of industry experts who covered the most topical and strategic issues facing the railways industry today.

Mr. Daniel Giblin, Executive Consultant at EC Harris opened and chaired the conference excellently throughout two conference days. He introduced the topics to be discussed during the sessions as well as the expert line up of speakers.

The first speaker to take stand was Mr. Eric Peetermans, Chairman at UIC Combined Transport Group who spoke about Agenda 2015 for Combined Transport in Europe - the final report of the UIC DIMIS project. He said that despite the current economic downturn, combined transport was expected to double its volumes by 2015 compared to 2005. It was also said that the fundamentals that have enabled the growth of CT are ever present and will ensure that its structural growth will resume once the recovery of the European and of the global economy eventually sets in, expectedly sometime during 2010.

This was followed by a detailed overview of combined transport in Europe – achievements, perspectives and conditions, presented by Mr. Rudy Colle, Director General at UIRR. He also outlined the crises measures taken or to be considered.

Following the networking coffee break, Mr. Martin Metz, Managing Director and Global Head of Land Transport Division at DVB Bank provided an ‘Update on asset finance in the rolling stock market’ examining in detail all the benefits and limits of Asset Finance.

Dr. Gunther Koller, Consultant at Komat then presented FFU (Fiber-reinforced Foamed Urethane) sleepers, its employment and advantages compared to conventional wooden sleepers in railway projects.

To conclude the morning session Mr. Varujan Apelian, a Member of Administrative Council of European Passengers’ Federation presented the project on the strategy of security in railway transport which was developed by the Railway Transport Friends Association. It analyses problems which nowadays are particularly important for the complex security and defence of railway transport against terrorist threats. He also overviewed some of the good practices about the safety and risk control in the railways.

Following an extended networking opportunity during the lunch, the afternoon session turned attention, firstly to Operating Leasing as an alternative financing instrument. Mr. Wolfgang Reuss, Senior Vice President at KFW Ipex Bank, presented solutions offered by operating leasing in European rail market.

Another highly interesting topic was examined by Mrs. Mary Bonar, Head of Rail at Stephenson Harwood & Renaissance Trains. She spoke about Encouraging travel by rail and a private sector approach to building the business.

The next speaker to take stand was Mr. Kurt Bauer, Manager at Railistic who examined Interoperability from the cooperation or competition aspect. He concluded that interoperability meant cooperation and competition at the same time and it was necessary to strengthen the rail sector and achieve higher competitiveness compared to alternative models. He also stated that it is also necessary to allow co-operation between modes.

After a lively afternoon networking break, Mr. Hans-Paul Kienzler, Director at K+P Transport Consultants presented DIOMIS Module 3 and a case study: Combined Transport in Slovakia. Integration of railways in the multimodal traffic of Eastern Europe was the next topic covered by Mr. Marc Eekels, General Manager Baltics & Black Sea at Ahlers. To conclude the first conference day Professor Emilio Larrode of the University of Zaragoza gave a presentation on the European Railway Corridors and their relationship with the transportation modal re-equilibrium. He explained the Green Corridors Concept explaining that new concept of European green corridors must be adopted and that a modal shift from road to rail must be produced in northeast-southwest European freight corridors.

The second conference day began with the presentation of Mr. Paul Tremmel, Managing Director, Heavy Industry and Infrastructure at Raiffeisen Investment. He provided the most useful overview of the Past, Present and Future of the railway sector in the CEE region. His overview, which used illustrative case studies, focussed on past privatisations in CEE countries, and the future outlook of the Rail Cargo in the region.

Mr. Philip Martin, Head of Marketing in the Amadeus Business Group was the next speaker to take stand presenting ways of ‘Getting the most from existing and new sales channels’. His presentation brilliantly illustrated insight into the future of travelling.

The Regional Country focused presentations grasped attention during the final conference session. The present state of the Hungarian railway reform and its prospects was presented by Mr. Laszlo Mosoczi, Deputy General Director at MAV Hungarian State Railways Company. The next country in focus was Slovenia and Mr. Ivo Konstantinov, Regional representative of Luka Koper for Romania and Bulgaria who presented ‘A Unique Business Model: A Port in the role of a railway operator’. The final conference presentation was given by Mr. Neil McGregor, Managing Partner at McGregor and Partners. Mr. McGregor spoke about the railway sector in Romania highlighting the legal and regulatory structure.

After a highly informative day for everyone, Mr. Giblin summarised the wide range of ideas and discussions that had taken place throughout two conference days.

EastEuro Link would like to thank all of you who supported the event and contributed to its success. We would also like to thank all of you who took part in the conference, recognising the value we can offer to your business and the prosperity of CEE Railway sector.

We look forward to your future cooperation!

Information about future events of this kind and enquires concerning purchasing the presentations’ CD are available at london@easteurolink.co.uk or call + 44 (0) 20 72758020.