ALP-NET Workshop 1 Programme

Morning Session
Policy Developments in Alpine Transport and the Decision Making Context

Trans-Alpine transport poses significant challenges for the Common Transport Policy as well as national transport policies and raises questions relating to subsidiarity and multi-level governance, including the representation of stakeholder and citizen interests. An integrated, cross-sectoral and co-ordinated approach is called for, yet is difficult to implement, not least because of the conflicting nature of the interests at stake. Trans-Alpine transport is a European multi-lateral problem at the same time that it is a national and regional one. It is a challenge for transport policy but also for environment and the economy.

This session will focus on the recent policy developments in the area, laying particular emphasis on the land transport agreement between Switzerland and the EU, the ongoing negotiations between Austria and the EU and the development of the Common Transport Policy. Some of the main questions will include: What are the relevant changes in new Common Transport Policy (CTP) and how will they affect the national transport policies in the Member States? How can regional and stakeholder interests be integrated in the development of Alpine transport policy? What is the relationship between transport policy, environmental policy and economic policy on the European and the national levels? What impact will the Alpine Convention have on the CTP and the national transport policies? What will be the medium and long term effects of the agreement between the EU and Switzerland? What are the likely effects of EU Enlargement on trans-Alpine traffic? What are possible solutions in the dispute between the EU and Austria over the Ecopoint system and its scheduled termination?

Afternoon Session
Influencing the Modal Split: The Potential of Intermodal and Combined Transport

Intermodal and combined transport represent important alternatives to road transport for the transalpine freight flows. In 1998 accompanied or unaccompanied combined transport amounted to 20% of the freight flows across the Alps. Despite this promising figure, transalpine intermodal and combined transport suffers from shortcomings in quality which are often due to the lack of interconnectivity and interoperability at border crossings, and to the problems associated with capacity constraints, the management of supply chains and regional traffic.

This session will focus on the technical, operational and legal differences between the national transalpine networks, on the issues of management at border crossings terminals and new strategies of intermodal operators. In addition, the following more general questions will be posed: What are the adequate conditions for increasing the modal share of combined and intermodal transport? What are the main obstacles in achieving these conditions? What are the short and long term capacity constraints?

14:30 - 14:45	Introduction Antonio Musso - Univeristy of Rome 'La Sapienza'
14:45 - 14:55	Chairs Introduction
14:55 -15:40	First Round of Interventions Erwin Wieland - Bundesamt für Verkehr, Switzerland Soren Rasmussen - International Road Union (IRU) Eric Peetermans - International Union of Railways (UIC)
15:40 - 16:10	General Discussion
16:10 - 16:40	Coffee Break
16:40 - 17:20	Second Round of Interventions Stefan Tostmann - European Commission, DG TREN Eugenio Muzio - General Manager CEMAT K. Ebling - European Intermodal Association, EIA
17:20 - 18:00	General Discussion
18:00	End of Session

20:00 Dinner at the Restaurant l'Huitrière (20 quai aux Briques, 1000 Brussels)

The pricing schemes in transalpine freight transport are among the main factors for the choice of transport modes and routes as well as for the overall growth. Furthermore, revenues of road taxes can also be used to cross-finance new or improved infrastructure, as the Swiss example, where the mileage related heavy vehicle tax partly finances the New Trans-Alpine Rail Links (NARL), shows.

It is still a long way to go for a harmonised, fair and efficient pricing that takes into account the constraints of infrastructure and the environment. The session will review the state of the art and focus on the needs for further co-ordination and further research in this area: Is there a need for harmonised transport accounts as a basis for pricing? What research and co-ordination efforts are needed to get towards a harmonised alpine pricing scheme? What effects on traffic flows can we expect from planned pricing schemes? What are the potentials and limits of various financing schemes for new infrastructure (in particular “cross-financing-schemes”)?

9:00 - 9:15	Introduction Felix Walter - ECOPLAN
9:15 - 9:25	Chairs Introduction John Hughes Rees - European Commission, DG TREN
9:25 - 10:10	First Round of Interventions Tom Howes - European Commission, DG TREN Ueli Balmer - Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung, Switzerland Gianni Carbonaro - European Investment Bank
10:10 - 10:40	General Discussion
10:40 - 11:10	Coffee Break
11:10 - 12:00	Second Round of Interventions Esko Niskanen - VATT, Finland Markus Liechti - Transport and Environment (T&E) Henk Kramer - Transport en Logistiek Nederland
12:00 - 12:30	General Discussion
12:30	Lunch

Afternoon Session
Data, Methods, Modelling and GIS (Graphical Information Systems)

A wide range of actors depend on reliable information on trans-Alpine transport; policy makers at European and national level, transport operators and communities affected by the transport flows over the Alps.

The assessment of the current state of the Alpine transport system and the appraisal of possible future developments associated with particular policies and scenarios, are based on relevant information and simulation tools. In this session the specific data needs for the Alpine area will be reviewed. An overview of existing data sets, methods and models will be presented and the differences, inconsistencies and gaps will be identified and discussed. Particular attention will be given to changes in transport demand, new transport infrastructure and the improvement of transport services.

The present work of the French/Swiss/Austrian study group on trans-Alpine transport data represents a possible starting point for an increased international co-operation between national administrations, the affected regions and the European institutions. This session should be seen as an opportunity to discuss the needs and possibilities for co-operation and to take a step towards a common concept for co-ordinating the efforts on data collection.

Finally, the session will look at GIS tools which are used for the visualisation of basic information and model results at the territorial and at the infrastructure level.

participants to the round table will be invited to address the following questions: What are the major problems and gaps in data collection and availability? How can we explain the differences in transport demand forecasts? How can international co-operation improve the quality, consistency and availability of data? How to proceed with the establishment of Alpine monitoring systems as requested by the land transport agreement between Switzerland and the EU and by the Alpine convention? What is the future of ETIS (European Transport Information System)? How useful are currently available GIS systems?

14:00 - 14:15	Introduction Philippe Tardieu - NEA
14:15 - 14:25	Chairs Introduction Carlo Lavalle - European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre
14:25 - 15:10	First Round of Interventions Michel Houée - Ministère de l'Euqipment, des Transports et du Logement, France Walter Züst - Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung, Switzerland Gianpaolo Basoli - Ministero dei Transporti e della Navigazione, Italy
15:10 - 15:40	General Discussion
15:40 - 16:10	Coffee Break
16:10 - 17:10	Second Round of Interventions Thomas Spiegel - Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie, Austria Josefine Oberhausen - EUROSTAT Andreas Küchel - Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau- und Wohnungswesen, Germany Jan Francke - Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat, The Netherlands
17:10 - 17:40	General Discussion
17:40	End of Session