On 7-8 May experts in the field of railway transportation and sea ports in Central and Eastern Europe met up in Warsaw for the first RailPort conference. They discussed the problems and the possibilities of multimodal transportation development, including most notably ineffective infrastructure, exorbitant prices of transportation, and what follows, low competitiveness compared to means of transportation by road. The topics touched upon caused animated discussions, with the participants often expressing very different points of view. All however agree that the branch needs to begin cooperating and should head towards improvement of the situation of multimodal transportation in Poland.
Already during the first discussion panel the speakers discussed the main problems connected with the infrastructure’s inefficiency. “The great possibilities of railway development and the need to introduce significant changes are evident to us,” said Rudy Colle of the UIRR (Union Internationale des Sociétés de Transport Combiné). They indicated factors that cause low competitiveness of railway transportation in comparison with road transportation. It is enough to mention the average speed of trains transporting containers in Poland, that is 23km/h. “Cargo transportation in Poland is out of date,” says Mathias Raith of CTL Logistics S.A. It is based mainly on the transport of coal, not containers or vehicles. The railway must move away from transportation of regular goods and concentrate on articles of higher value on a European scale, adds Raith. The need to modernize the infrastructure is a priority during the next few years. The speakers agreed on this issue as well.

Those who direct the infrastructure direct all business
Speakers compared railway transportation with road transportation, pointing out assets and flaws. There was no lack of subjects connected with commencing cooperation. PKP PLK discussed the need to acquire funds from the European Union in order to modernize railway infrastructure. “The costs of access to multimodal transportation are lowering, but it is connected with increasing the costs for other types of railway transportation, and this is not good,” says Zbigniewa Zarychta of PKP PLK. The most serious problem when using funds from the EU are administrative barriers which slow down changes.
Railway or roads for container transportation? This topic was touched upon by Dariusz Stefański, Managing Director of PCC Intermodal S.A., the official RailPort 2008 partner. He introduced plans and prospects for his company’s development during the coming years, including the construction of modern intermodal terminals by the year 2012. Stefański’s presentation caused a heated discussion among conference participants. Whether such development was at all possible was questioned. PCC Intermodal S.A. eagerly continued the debate, prolonging the conference program and inviting the competition and potential investors to cooperate.
Speakers all agreed that the conference makes finding new business partners possible, and frequent meetings are the key to entering into good business relations. The organizers believe the first edition to be a success and are planning a subsequent one, counting on the interest of an even greater group of experts in the field of multimodal transportation.
The event was organized by Actia Conferences, a division of Gdynia’s Actia Forum, a company specializing in organizing thematic branch conferences. More information about RailPort 2008 can be found at http://www.actiaconferences.com/