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Joint RFC Amber and RFC Baltic-Adriatic Railway and Terminal Advisory Group meeting in Sopron
On 23 May 2024 RFC Amber and RFC Baltic-Adriatic held their third joint meeting with the Railway and Terminal Advisory Groups of both corridors in Sopron in Hungary. The meeting was well-attended, gathering more than 40 participants from all countries of the two corridors. Mr. Csaba Tibor Várkonyi from the Hungarian Ministry of Transport and Construction held the keynote speech for the event.
The event was opened by Mr Márk Háry, acting Chair of the Management Board of RFC AMBER, who also welcomed the participants in the name of GYSEV as host of the meeting.
Mr. Csaba Tibor Várkonyi emphasized in his keynote speech the central location of the Hungary in the future European Transport Corridor ETC Baltic-Adriatic, highlighting in his speech important rail infrastructure projects, which will help to increase capacity and lead to freight trains moving more efficiently on the Hungarian rail network of RFC AMBER and the future Baltic-Adriatic ETC.
Dr. Gerhard Troche, Managing Director of RFC AMBER and Mr. Alessandro Turconi, Executive Director of RFC Baltic-Adriatic, who jointly moderated the meeting, informed the participants about activities and developments on the corridors in 2023 and 2024, followed by the C-OSS-Managers of both corridors, Mr. Roman Stańczak and Mrs. Sandra Ferrari, who presented the capacity offer for the timetable period 2025.
In the following session Mr. Martin Erlanger from Rail Cargo Group and Mr Chris Ressenaar presented customer views and future expectations on new regulations, in particular the capacity regulation, which is currently in the legislative process on European level.
After the lunch Mr. Szabolcs Tál, Leader of the Train Performance Monitoring Working Group of RFC AMBER, presented an analysis of train delay causes and metodological challenges in their usage.
This presentation was followed by a comprehensive overview given by Mr. Pedro Macedo from RailNetEurope (RNE) over RNE’s Train Information System (TIS) and train performance management activities at RNE. He draw particular attention to the possibilities to use the Train Composition Message (TCM) for automated train linking and to increase data quality and KPIs.
The following session focused on quality in cross-border operations and Mr. Szabolcs Tál presented an in-depth analysis of waiting times and related issues at the Őriszentpéter/Hodoš border crossing between Hungary and Slovenia. The analysis serves as a basis for further action envisaged in the future.
After a coffee break two presentations on intermodality along RFCs Baltic-Adriatic and Amber followed. The first was held by Mr. Bartlomiej Felczynski from Baltic Hub in Gdansk, informing the audience about the positive traffic developments and future prospects for their terminal at the Baltic Sea. The second presentation was held jointly by Mr. Csaba Jabronka and Dr. Zoltán Zentai from GYSEV CARGO, informing about the company’s traffic operations in general , which have become increasingly international in past years, and the new Debrecen terminal in particular, which is expected to become a major node for intermodality in Eastern Hungary.
At the event many interesting and useful discussions with the participants took place, as well as exchanges between corridor stakeholders. The meeting gave valuable feedback for future development of the corridors in the framework of the new European ETCs.
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