On Thursday 16 April 2015, the first meeting of the UIC SEEA Taskforce was held in Ljubljana under the chairmanship of Dr Peter Verlič. Attending this meeting were some of the founding members of the South East Europe Alliance for Rail Innovation – SEE-SARI such as Mr Nenad Kecman, the Executive Director of Infrastructure of Serbian Railways as well as his Director of International Relations Mr Zeljko Valentic, Mrs Zrinka Marchioli and Mr Renato Humic of the passenger division of Croatian Railways (HŽ-Passenger). Also attending were Mrs Alenka Temeljotov, European faculty of law, Ljubljana specialised in PPP and other financing models and involved in several European funded projects in this area, Mr Esref Gacanin representing the IPSA Rail Research Institute from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mr Tomislav Letnik – University of Maribor Transport Economics Centre, as well as Mr Marko Obrstar representing RIKO, a well known engineering and development organisation. Unfortunately the South East Europe Transport Observatory (SEETO) could not attend this meeting but is very supportive of the initiative. UIC was represented by Dennis Schut, research manager who has been involved in this initiative since the Belgrade conference and has been involved in two EC funded projects dealing with Slovenia and the West Balkan area, TransSlo and TransNew.
The initiative for SEE-SARI was born during the October 2014 South East Europe Rail Conference which was held in Belgrade, presented by Dr Peter Verlič, Director of the Institute of Transport & Traffic in Ljubljana, the research institute of Slovenian Railways and was strongly supported by the UIC Director-General Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux. As can be clearly seen from the current TEN-T map, a substantial part of South East Europe is left uncovered and blank while it contains many important harbours, airports, cities and the important railway corridor Munich-Salzburg-Ljubljana-Graz-Zagreb-Sofia-Istanbul. This is not at all a favourable situation and action is needed to update, develop, connect and innovate the railway network throughout South East Europe.
The UIC SEEA Special Taskforce, chaired by Dr Peter Verlič, who is also a member of the UIC’s RICG and IRRB as well as of the Regional ERTMS Working Group, will stimulate and facilitate the work of SEE-SARI wherever possible.
The work of SEE-SARI will be built around the core rail system components which are indicated in the Challenge 2050 and the Rail Technical Strategy Europe (RTSE) that was published by the UIC on behalf of the ROC in February 2014. Also ERRAC as well as Shift2Rail will serve as a model for the Alliance. When fully functional, it should incorporate all the important rail stakeholders in South East Europe as a PPP involving investment from the rail sector as well as independent businesses that are interested in and would expect benefits from involvement in the rail sector. The aim is to draft a Vision and Strategy as well as a strategic implementation plan and concrete projects dealing with the highest priorities within this important area. Financial institutions and national governments should be enthused by this approach and be encouraged enough to want to contribute to this development approach.
Over the next two months, the SEE-SARI network of founding members will be further built up and Taskforce chairman Peter Verlič and the other founding members will visit and contact a number of the other railways in South East Europe as well as other crucial stakeholders. The first steps will be made to draft the Vision and Strategy documents and to discuss common priorities. In the meantime, an overview will be prepared by the founding members of already existing projects and initiatives.
The SEE-SARI will be presented and promoted during the rail congress in Sarajevo (15 and 16 October www.uki.ba) and the official kick-off event will be organised back-to-back with the South East Europe Rail Investment Conference in Belgrade – 27 October www.southeasteuroperailconference.com – hosted by the Serbian Railways who very actively support SEE-SARI. They will also prepare the SEE-SARI communications plan! Meanwhile, other railway operators such as DB and OBB have also shown an interest in this initiative.
The next meeting of the UIC SEEA Taskforce will be organised by Serbian Railways and will take place at their headquarters towards the end of May.
Mr Blaz Jemensek will serve as the main contact point for the SEE-SARI and the Prometni Institut will be responsible for sharing and distribution of information and documents. A special website will soon be set up and a logo will be developed.
