Toespraak van staatssecretaris Dijksma TEN-T DAYS - RAIL FREIGHT CORRIDORS

Toespraak | 21-06-2016

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,

More than 200 years ago, in 1805, a group of engineers in Croydon, England organised an interesting demonstration. 12 wagons were loaded with stones, till each wagon weighed 3 tons: 36 tons in total. Then the wagons were fastened together. A horse was attached, and that one horse drew the wagons with ease, 6 miles in 2 hours.

Why was that interesting? Because a good horse on an ordinary road could draw only 1 ton. But the demonstration was not on an ordinary road: the wagons travelled over a iron plate covered railway.

So what did the experiment proof? That railways are an excellent, low energy mode of transport. In more technical terms: railways reduce friction and reduction in friction equals reduction in energy losses, emissions and wear.

We all know that this knowledge took some time to sink in. We needed steam engines, cheap production of steel and an industrial revolution to embrace trains as a serious mode of transport.

And then we took the next step: we started building railways that crossed borders. Soon we had railways going from Brussels to Berlin to Bucharest, from Maastricht to Madrid to Montreux. And even from Paris to London. From everywhere to anywhere.

And that caused a whole new sort of friction. Friction between railway systems and time tables, shippers and forwarders, operators and managers. And friction retards progress. That means friction is not an option!

That is why these TEN-T Days here in Rotterdam are so useful and necessary. That is why I am so happy and honoured that you are all here today.
At this meeting of initiatives, issues and ideas. Because only together we can reduce friction.  Only together we can turn friction into movement and momentum. And that is necessary.

Not only because our railways enable and ensure two important freedoms of the European Union: free movement of goods and free movement of persons. But also because our railways enable and ensure a sustainable future.

And to be honest: that is the only future we have! That is why we all signed the Paris Climate Treaty: we cannot drag our feet if we seriously want to reduce our carbon footprint.

Shifting freight from road to rail can be a serious solution in a long term policy of reducing CO2-emissions in Europe. We all know that the CO2-emissions from road transport are at least three times higher than CO2-emissions from rail transport. But, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors rail’s share of EU freight has declined since 2011.

It is obvious we have to up our game. We have to make rail freight a more attractive option. We have to enhance our operational efficiency. We have to ensure adequate capacity for all users. In short: we have to reduce friction.

This morning we have put a major step forward towards that goal when 28 EU-member states, together with Switzerland and Norway, adopted a policy statement to boost the cooperation, commitment and clout of the Rail Freight Corridors. And you all know that these Corridors are the first 9 steps towards a Single European Railway Area.

We want to accomplish that in close cooperation with all the EU members and every other country that wants to contribute. Who wasn't impressed by the recently opened Gotthard Base Tunnel? A tunnel that strengthens the Rhine Alpine Freight Corridor and shows that each Corridor can and will contribute towards the promotion of rail's key role in an European sustainable and competitive transport system.

That is what this conference is all about.

We invited the railway sector to state their commitment towards better cooperation in  European rail freight. From shippers to forwarders,  from operators to infrastructure managers, from terminals and manufacturers. Together we agreed on an ambitious statement.

In the statement we promise to acknowledge, highlight, support, welcome, recognise, encourage and emphasize an important set of improvements and inducements to empower European rail freight.

Let me give you a few examples of the issues we agreed upon.

One
We will give priority to the development of digitization and the exchange of logistics data. We want to connect every railway terminal to real time traffic data in one year time.

Two.
Together with the railway carriers we will determine our priorities for each year.

Three.
We will work together to harmonize the procedures used in the rail freight corridors. For example a more coordinated planning to work on infrastructure.

Four.
We will cooperate more closely with the TEN T corridors to exchange information and prioritise investments. For instance to identify and clear up infrastructure bottlenecks. A good example is the inclusion of longer trains in the Rhine Alpine Freight Corridor in the draft version of the Bundesverkehrswegeplan.

Five.
The Corridors will work together to ensure a stable version management for ERTMS.

Six.
We agreed that railway noise is a nuisance we have to take care of in a long-term strategy. Within a year, we expect decisions to phase out noisy rail freight cars.

In one year time we must be able to measure progress. So I will see you all again at the TEN-T days next year in  Strasbourg! We will - we must - have progress to report then.

This policy statement, these TEN-T-days: thát is where the European Union shows its value and its strength: together we reduce friction.

 

In one of his Brexit speeches, London Major Boris Johnson compared the European Union to: "Passengers locked in the back of a mini-cab with a wonky sat nav driven by a driver who doesn’t have perfect command of English and going in a direction, frankly, we don’t want to go.”

Mr. Johnson: I recommend the train....

Because - if we work together - our trains are always going where we wánt them to go.