In this fourth episode of the “Transport 4 Future” series, host Prof. Juan Montero sits down for a discussion with Rolf Diemer, Head of Unit Economic Analysis and Better Regulation at the European Commission’s DG MOVE, to discuss the main findings of the Commission’s newly published study on New Mobility Patterns in European Cities.

What is the main motivation behind this study and what is its scope? Are there indications we are breaking away from the predominant reliance on private cars for urban and short distance passenger mobility? What are the study’s findings when it comes to new mobility modes, such as various forms of active and shared mobility? What are some of the national front runners and best practices on the urban mobility front? What is the current state of play in Europe when it comes to transitioning to cleaner fleets in logistics? What are the main challenges to shifting to cleaner vehicles?

Tune in for the answers to these questions and more!

In this third episode of the “Transport 4 Future” series, host Prof. Juan Montero sits down for a discussion with Alberto Mazzola, Executive Director of the Community of European Railways and Infrastructure Companies (CER), on the key challenges to establishing seamless cross-border passenger rail travel across Europe. Their conversation touches upon a range of topics pertaining to timetables, ticketing, the provision of real-time information about disruption and delays, as well as more technical issues linked to standardisation and data protection.

What are railway undertakings currently doing when it comes to digitalisation? What is being done in order to make timetables more widely and quickly available both at the national and international level? What are the main challenges ahead to rendering ticketing, and in particular through ticketing, available across different platforms? What is the role of digital tools in providing real-time information during journey disruptions and delays? What are the main differences between the Agreement on Journey Continuation and the HOTNAT (hop on the next available train) Agreement? How can we ensure that passengers are equipped with all necessary tools to proceed with journey continuation in cases of disruption?

Tune in to this podcast for the answers to these questions and more!

In this second episode of the “Transport 4 Future” series, host Prof. Juan Montero sits down for a discussion with Roelof Hellemans, Secretary General of the MaaS Alliance, on the trending topic of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). How do we define MaaS? Are there different types of MaaS solutions? What are the main benefits of empowering the traveler, which, in turn, is a guiding principle of MaaS? What are the main obstacles to the rollout of MaaS solutions? What role for public authorities, and which should be the leading actors in the transition (i.e., municipalities, transport service providers, platforms)? Where are we headed and what are the long-term requirements for MaaS to take-off? What are the latest MaaS developments across the world? Tune in to find out what the future of mobility holds!

In this first episode of FSR Transport’s new podcast series ‘Transport 4 Future’ host Prof. Juan Montero speaks with Bertil Hylén, Scientific Advisor of FSR Transport about EU railway regulation and policy in relation to passenger rail services. Having closely witnessed the reform of EU railway acquis over the past 30 years, Bertil reflects on the factors behind the limited progress achieved in many Member States and shares his take on the possible ways forward. What are the necessary preconditions for the completion of the reform process in the rail sector? Has public financing been conducive of efficiency in terms of targeting the necessary rail services? Can international cross-border rail services play a greater role in Europe and should the EU be supporting their development? What about night train services? Can Rail Freight Corridors effectively boost the share of international rail freight services or is there a need for a greater degree of EU coordination? Can complex cross-border services be tendered as regular public service obligations? Is it possible to coordinate tenders across different Member States?

In this episode of the ‘On The Move’ series Teodora Serafimova, Research Associate at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation, is joined by Delphine Grandsart, Senior Researcher at the European Passengers’ Federation, an international non-profit association representing Europe’s major passenger organisations and the interests of travellers at the EU level.

What is the most desired instrument to curb emissions from road transport? What is the sort of information passengers should be provided with to induce them to opt for journeys with lower environmental footprints? What is the best way to facilitate the provision of such information to passengers, while avoiding greenwashing? What are some of the main hurdles in the way to establishing a common multimodal framework for ticketing and passenger rights? How can MaaS benefit passengers, and how has COVID-19 affected its future development? Are the current Commission guidelines for State aid in the aviation sector fit-for-purpose? What should be the guiding principles and criteria behind the allocation of State aid in the aviation sector?

Tune in to this podcast for some insightful reflections on these questions from the passengers’ standpoint!

In this episode of the On The Right Track podcast series, host Juan Montero, Part-time Professor at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation, is joined by Veronika Haunold, European and International Affairs Manager at the Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB, in discussing the role of railways in driving the decarbonisation of the transport sector.

What can railways do to support transport decarbonisation? What are the necessary measures to support the Commission’s modal shift objectives in relation to passenger rail? How can we meet passengers’ need for intermodal door-to-door connectivity? How can digitalisation boost multimodality? What is ÖBB doing in respect to night train services? What are the main obstacles to modal shift in freight transport? How can digital tools help to resolve these? Are railways “green” enough? Listen to their full conversation to get the answers to these questions

With the European Year of Rail being halfway through, host Juan Montero, Part-time Professor at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation is joined by François Davenne, Director General of the International Union of Railways (UIC), as they take stock of progress achieved to date. What is the role of technology in increasing the modal share of rail in the passenger segment? What is UIC doing in terms of using technology to facilitate better interaction between the different industry players? Can technology improve the reliability of cross-border rail freight services and thereby help to boost the modal share of rail freight? Is the current regulatory framework conducive towards more efficient cross-border services, or will a stronger EU involvement in cross-border traffic management be necessary? Is the recent revival of night train services in Europe here to stay? Tune in to their conversation to learn more.

In this 5th episode of the ‘On The Move’ series Teodora Serafimova, Research Associate at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation, speaks with Mitra Qurban, Director for Public Policy and EU Affairs at Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL), the world’s largest logistics company.

DHL Group recently announced plans to accelerate the pace of its decarbonisation to achieve climate-neutral logistics by the year 2030. In the episode, Mitra elaborates on the concrete measures DPDHL is implementing to reduce the footprint of its operations in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal.

How does the company ensure that its operations, which are being outsourced to third-party providers, meet minimal environmental quality standards? What are the main challenges to establishing a common framework for the harmonised measurement of transport and logistics-related greenhouse gas emissions? Does the Commission’s ReFuelEU Aviation proposal suffice to scale up the production of zero-emission sustainable aviation fuels and place aviation on a path to climate neutrality? What are the main obstacles to moving goods away from road transport onto cleaner modes like railways and boosting the share of sustainable multimodal transport in Europe? How can the upcoming revision of the Combined Transport Directive help overcome these? Tune in to their conversation and get the answers to these questions!

Read the main conclusions of the 8th Florence Intermodal Forum on the Greening of European Cargo Operations here: https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/72264

In this episode of the ‘On The Move’ series Teodora Serafimova, Research Associate at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation speaks with Ana Salazar, Head of Sustainability Division at AENA, the world’s largest airport operator in terms of passenger traffic.

Despite the fact that aviation is one of the sectors worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, AENA last year announced a new climate strategy pledging to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, which is ten years ahead of the target set by the Airports Council International (ACI) Europe. What were the main drivers behind AENA’s climate strategy? What concrete measures is AENA implementing to reduce its CO2 and environmental footprint? What are some of the regulatory and financing gaps in the current EU framework that would need to be closed to enable airports to act as ‘enablers’ for the broader decarbonisation of the aviation value chain, including airlines? Listen to their conversation for answers to these questions!

Read the main conclusions of the 14th Florence Air Forum on the Role of Airports in the European Green Deal here: https://fsr.eui.eu/publications/?handle=1814/69636

In this third episode of the ‘On The Right Track’ podcast series, Juan Montero, Professor at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation speaks with Dr. Marco Kampp, Director of International Long-Distance Passenger Transport at Deutsche Bahn about the existing barriers and necessary solutions to boost the share of international long-distance passenger services in Europe.

What does Deutsche Bahn expect from the European Year of Rail and what is the company doing in regards to increasing rail ridership across the continent? What are the legal, commercial and technical barriers, which hinder international rail passenger services? What kind of framework conditions will be necessary to ensure that investments channeled towards railways are fruitful and help to advance the EU’s modal shift objectives? What is the role of increased harmonisation at both the technical and economic levels for the provision of international long-distance passenger services? In view of the COVID-19 crisis, what are the most urgently needed regulatory measures in the rail sector? Listen to their full conversation for answers to these questions and more!

In this second episode of the ‘On The Right Track’ podcast series, Juan Montero, Professor at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation speaks with Alberto Mazzola, Executive Director at the Community of European Railways and Infrastructure Companies (CER), about the railway industry’s expectations in terms of EU regulatory developments during the European Year of Rail.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the railway industry and how does this translate into the sector’s expectations for the European Year of Rail? What measures are necessary to increase the modal share of rail passenger services? Can competition help to increase ridership and achieve the European Green Deal objectives for rail? Could Europe experience the return of the night trains, which have seen increasing popularity during the pandemic as a substitute for short haul flights? Is the EU regulatory approach to night trains an experiment or a policy that is here to stay? What are the reasons behind the stagnating modal share of rail freight services in the EU, and what measures should be implemented to reverse the trend? Listen to their full conversation for some answers to these questions!

In this launching episode of the ‘On The Right Track’ podcast series, dedicated to 2021 as the European Year of Rail, Juan Montero, Professor at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation speaks with Elisabeth Werner, Director for Land Transport at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport, about the main regulatory priorities on the EU railways agenda.

What were the motivating drivers behind the European Year of Rail, and what concrete EU initiatives can we expect in 2021? What measures should be pursued on the rail passenger front to increase the modal share of rail? Can the liberalisation of the EU railway passenger market contribute to advancing the European Green Deal objectives? What tools should be considered to improve the management of cross-border traffic and night train services? Is a breakthrough in policy necessary to boost the share of rail freight transport? What are the learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic as regards the resilience of rail transport and the importance of capacity management? Listen to the full conversation to find out more.