Launching Event in Vienna: Deepening the Dialogue

On February 23rd at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, a major step was taken towards recognizing the importance of the European Rail Freight Corridors. It was a memorable day that marked the launching of three new Rail Freight Corridors (ScanMed, Baltic-Adriatic and North Sea-Baltic) as well as the extension to Germany of the Atlantic Corridor.

Please download the extended Agenda here and Movie here.  

The Launching Event event started at 10 am with a Welcome Coffee in the "Wintergarten" providing the first contact between the Corridors and their teams.

(fotos 1 e 2)

In the first panel national representatives of Austria (Mrs. Ursula Zechner, Director General of the Federal Ministry for Transport), Norway (Mr. Ketil Solvik-Olsen, Minister of Transport and Communication) and Slovenia (Mr. Peter Gašperšič, Minister of Infrastructure) discussed about The significance of the Rail Freight Corridors in a national perspective.

(fotos 3, 4 e 5)

The second panel included the representatives of the European CNC Coordinators. Mr. Menno Van Der Kamp representing Mr. Pat Cox and Mr. Alexis Padoy representing Ms. Catherine Trautman were invited to talk about The significance of the international Rail Freight Corridors in a European perspective.

(fotos 6, 7, 8 e 9)

Afterwards, it was time to Get to know the Corridors. Each of the corridors’ representatives was invited to give a short presentation about their corridor.

• For the ScanMed Corridorthe presentation was given by the Chairman of the Management Board – Mr. Bjørn Kristiansen. Please download the presentation here. 
• For the Atlantic Corridorthe presentation was given by the Managing Director – Mr. Jacques Coutou and the C-OSS Manager – Mr. Félix Bartolomé. Please download the presentation here
• For the Baltic-Adriatic Corridorthe presentation was given by the PMO Director – Mr. Jarosław Majchrzak, the Director of railway sector in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport – Mr. Alessandro Violi and the RFC 5 Chairman of the Executive Board – Mr. Boris Živec. Please download the presentation here
• For the North Sea - Baltic Corridorthe presentation was given by the Chairman of the Management Board – Mr. Oliver Sellnick, the C-OSS Manager – Mr. Florian Müller and the Corridor’s Managing Director – Mr. Jakub Kapturzak. Please download the presentation here.

(fotos 10, 11, 12 e 13)

Following the presentations, the audience was invited to visit the stands of each of the RFC, allowing for interaction and direct dialogue between Costumers and Corridors.

(fotos 14 a 21)

Then, the corridor representatives were invited back on stage to summarize what had happened during the Corridor Walkin each of their stands. For the Atlantic Corridor the Managing director of Atlantic Corridor – Mr. Jacques Coutou and the Deputy Director – Mr. Christian Minge presented the summary.

(fotos 22 e 23)

After lunch it was time for a short presentation by Mr. Andreas Steinle about future trends, Looking into the future

(fotos 24 e 25)

The discussion forum on ‘What can the corridors do for you?’ started immediately after and was divided in three forums between IM & RU experts, with Mr. Klaus Winkler as moderator. The debates addressed some of the biggest concerns of the moment among the corridors and their clients. These were three very interesting brainstorming sessions, with great participation from the audience. The three forums where:

• How should the ideal capacity product of the Corridors look like?
  Participants: Mr. Oliver Sellnick (DB Netz) & Mr. Andreas Pietsch (Captrain Netherlands)
• C-OSS of the future and how the non-RU applicants influence the future of railway?
  Participants: Mrs. Maria Perkuszewska (PKP PLK S.A.) & Mr. Bruno Silva (CP Carga)
• How do we form an integrated European Network out of our nine RFCs?
  Participants: Mr. Guus de Mol (ProRail) & Mr. Gottfried Eymer (DB Schenker Rail Scandinavia A/S)

(fotos 26, 27, 28)

The event ended with a short speech from the host – Mr. Harald Hotz, acknowledging and thanking the intense participation of the audience in the debates. 

(fotos 29, 30, 31)

Please find here the pictures of the Event.