Alpine Innovation for Combined Transport

DELIVERABLE DC3.2

Documentation of AlpInnoCT Final Conference

BRUSSELS, 19 NOV 2019

www.alpine-space.eu/alpinnoct.eu

AlpInno CT

Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and TransportLazarettstrasse 67D-80636 Munich

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Authors and Contributors Michaela Heseleu (SSP Consult) and Wolfgang Backhaus (Rupprecht Consult)

Design and LayoutSaydrina Govender (Rupprecht Consult)

Image rightsPhotographs taken during the event were done with permission and belong to AlpInnoCT project.

Icons have been designed by Freepik, and altered by Saydrina Govender and Jenny Kuck using a premium licence.

DisclaimerThe views of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

INTERREG Alpine Space Programme

Project Number: 432

January 2020

Contents Page

Executive Summary �����������������������������������������������������������������������������4

Final Conference: An Overview ����������������������������������������������������������5

Key Notes and Facilitators �������������������������������������������������������������������6

Key Note Highlights ������������������������������������������������������������������������������7

Interreg Alpine Space Programme: Perspective of the Joint Secretariat

and Outlook 2021-2027 ................................................................................... 7

Shift2Rail R&I Programme................................................................................ 7

Shift to Rail - Current Logistics Trends? ........................................................... 8

Discussion with Audience ............................................................................... 8

AlpInnoCT Pilot Actions and Results............................................................... 9

Dialogue Event - Policy recommendations for a sustainable trans-

border Alpine freight transport ���������������������������������������������������������17

AlpInnoCT – 6 Political Action Sheets ����������������������������������������������19

Panel Discussion ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������20

Key Take-Aways from our Discussions ��������������������������������������������21

Conclusions ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22

Next Steps �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22

Annex ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23

Executive Summary

The AlpInnoCT final conference provided the opportunity to present the results, the policy recommendations and the future outlooks of the project.

Relevant speakers updated the participants, about 80 people from private and public institutions involved in the freight transport at European level, about the most innovative solutions for a modal shift in freight transport. The project partners TX Logistik AG, ZAILOG SCARL and TPA presented the project pilot actions and discussed them with the public.

In the afternoon the dialogue event took place on “Policy Recommendations for a Sustainable Trans-Border Alpine Freight Transport”. After the presentation of a best practice on electronic data information, AlpInnoCT project partners CIPRA, bmvit and EURAC presented the AlpInnoCT policy recommendations.

Finally, a panel discussion with speakers of the freight transport world and project partners took place. During the event, the participants voted for the most relevant policy recommendations for the stakeholders: the policy recommendation perceived by the participants as most relevant was the general upgrade of rail infrastructure connecting Combined Transport nodes with the main corridors and a special focus on relevant feeder lines. Electronic data exchange and digitalization are major topics.

From the discussion emerged that Combined Transport is the only way towards a more sustainable transport and the solutions and recommendations proposed by AlpInnoCT project were appreciated by the participants, in particular by the EU and EUSALP representatives.

The connection between EUSALP working groups is very important; as it will assure the durability of the AlpInnoCT project results and the transnational cooperation beyond the project.

More than 80 participants from European Member States met in Brussels (Belgium) on the 19th November 2019 to exchange and share ideas, good practices and results to create and strengthen partnerships, and discuss the topic of modal shift in freight transport for an efficient and low-carbon Combined Transport, particularly across the Alpine Space.

The occasion was the final conference and dialogue event of the AlpInnoCT Project on innovative solutions in Combined Transport across the Alps. Members of the European Commission, officials from ministries of transport, representatives of transport agencies, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and private-sector representatives as well as experts from the field of freight transport on rail, road and waterway came together to discuss inter-modal freight transport.

The conference was a platform to exchange and build on the understanding that freight transport is on the front of sustainable development, and that innovations are crucial drivers in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The presentations and discussions centred on the actions that key players can take towards implementation and achievement of sustainable development goals and, particularly, of a low-carbon Combined Transport.

The various sessions featured presentations from international experts, representatives from ministries and governmental institutions as well as technical experts from the Alpine regions in AlpInnoCT.

An introductory note by Barbara Schretter, Director of the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union, who kindly hosted this event, opened the session on 19th November 2019. She highlighted the common interest in protecting the diversity and beauty of the Alpine Space while strengthening it as an economically prosperous region. She underlined that thanks to their continuous efforts along with so many other

valuable partners, the European Council adopted the European Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) in June 2016, which entered into force. This great achievement was only possible through the collective work of the Alpine states and regions, with great support from the European Commission, the Alpine Convention and the INTERREG Alpine Space Programme.

Karl Schumacher, Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and Transport (StMB)& Lead Partner of AlpInnoCT gave a warm welcome to the audience and introduced the project. The European perspective followed with the presentation of Anne-Séverine Lay, project officer/JS, who outlined the Alpine Space programme and gave an outlook on the future programme 2021-2027.

Expert presentations informed the audience about latest innovative solutions for shifting to rail transport, in particular by Giorgio Travaini (Shift2Rail) and Prof. Dr. Raphael Pfaff (Aachen University of Applied Sciences).

The concrete AlpInnoCT pilot actions were presented by the project partners TX Logistik AG, ZAILOG SCARL. Ad Toet, Koninklijk Nederlands Vervoer, Port of Trieste, and ELETA Coordinator presented the CEF project ELETA on electronic exchange of ETA information.

The Dialogue Event including a panel discussion continued the final event in the afternoon including the speakers of the morning but also further experts and partners. All conference participants were involved in the discussion, but also by a voting on the most important recommendation from the stakeholders’ view in Combined Transport. The project partners CIPRA together with Alpine-Initiative, bmvit and EURAC presented the AlpInnoCT policy recommendations.

The conference closed with a cocktail reception that offered further opportunities for networking and discussing among the conference participants.

Final Conference: An Overview

6

An introductory note by Barbara Schretter, Director of the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union, opened the session on 19th November 2019.

The moderator of the this final event, Wolfgang Backhaus (Rupprecht Consult) welcomed the key note speakers to the stage.

Karl Schumacher, Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building & Transport (StMB), and Lead Partner of AlpInnoCT, welcomed the participants and introduced the AlpInnoCT project and the principal challenges and issues taken up by the project.

Key Notes and Facilitators

“ Today, the global transformation towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy is a major topic…

How should goods be transported in and through the

Alps in the future? How can we improve combined transport?

What can we learn from other sectors or Alpine regions to solve transport problems? How can the impacts on

nature and the population be reduced?

These and other questions have been tackled by […]

AlpInnoCT. ”

“ Due to its sensitive eco-system, the Alpine space is strongly affected by climate

change. At the same time, we see a bottleneck for European north-south traffic. Joint efforts are needed to combine the

objectives of protecting nature and facilitating free movement

of people and goods. ”

“ … for the INTERREG Alpine Space Programme it was also quite important that the project was contributing to the macro region and different strategies at different levels, at regional, national and European

level….the path is still long for a shift toward sustainable transport in the Alps… it is also a huge issue …. but a good step already taken

with AlpInnoCT. ”

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Key Note Highlights

Interreg Alpine Space Programme: Perspective of the Joint Secretariat and Outlook 2021-2027Anne-Séverine Lay, project officer and representative of the Alpine Space Joint Secretariat, outlined the European perspective and summarized the Alpine Space Programme and the current status on the future programme 2021-2027.

Anne-Séverine Lay

Giorgio Travaini

Shift2Rail R&I ProgrammeMain S2R innovations reducing transport process time presented by Giorgio Travaini, Head of Research and Innovation, Shift2Rail, presented innovative solutions achieved in the Shift2Rail.

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Shift to Rail - Current Logistics Trends?

Current logistics trends as well as the potential of automated train operations were presented by Prof. Dr. Raphael Pfaff, FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences.

Prof. Dr. Raphael Pfaff

“ ... for me the very drastic target I quote is that I want to have my Amazon parcel shipped by rail as far as

possible. This is my target ”

Discussion with AudienceAn engaging dialogue with the audience followed the presentations of the five pilot implementations in AlpInnoCT. See pg. 17 for more details.

Jürgen Neugebauer

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AlpInnoCT Pilot Actions and Results

Before AlpInnoCT project partners TX Logistik AG & ZAILOG SCARL presented the project’s pilot actions, the representative of the lead partner Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and Transport, Jürgen Neugebauer, explained the basic approach and methodology used in AlpInnoCT.

The Work package leaders of AlpInnoCT pilot cases ZAILOG SCARL, TX Logistik AG, and Port of Trieste presented the developments implemented in AlpInnoCT, unlocking the potential of technical and organizational innovations in Combined Transport.

Jürgen Neugebauer

Methodological approach of AlpInnoCT’s pilots – three pillars build the basis.

Bernd Weisweiler, TX Logistik AG, then introduced the approach of the five pilot cases developed, implemented and tested within AlpInnoCT as well as how to proceed with

the pilot actions.

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Pilot action 1: Verona slot management

Alberto Milotti, ZAILOG SCARL:

“ Wagon Sharing” and improved

slot management developed within

AlpInnoCT is now in regular operation at the Verona Interterminal. ”

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12

Pilot Action 2: Train-related electronic data interchangeAlberto Cozzi, Port of Trieste

13

Marc Braun, TX Logistik, presents pilot actions 3 and 4 and their main results:

14

15

16

Christoph Runge, LKZ Prien, presented the restrictions for SMEs to participate in Combined Transport.

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Dialogue Event - Policy recommendations for a sustainable trans-border Alpine freight transport

The core of the Dialogue Events has been in the active involvement of all target groups, like political decision makers (regional and national authorities), entrepreneurs in freight transport, logistics and representatives of the civil society. The approach is rooted in the idea to overcome rigid positions and the lack of communication between key actors.

Altogether 7 Dialogue Events have been organized with different thematic focuses. The outcomes from one Dialogue Event have been transferred to another Dialogue Event to condense the results. The final result of the Dialogue Events are 6 Political Action Sheets which can be found online.

The afternoon session – the Dialogue Event started with Ad Toet, Koninklijk Nederlands Vervoer, ELETA Coordinator, who gave a presentation on the CEF project ELETA - Electronic exchange of ETA information with a focus on digitalization of Combined Transport with policy recommendations.

Jakob Dietachmair (CIPRA) and Django Betschart (Alpine-Initiative) explained the main ideas behind the Dialogue Events.

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Jakob Dietachmair (CIPRA) summarized Action Sheet #6 Support communication to raise awareness of Combined Transport and empower local capability for Combined Transport problem-solving: A so-called communication hub must be established at an Alpine-wide level to increase awareness and foster communication of the potentials of Combined Transport (CT) for decision makers in politics, industry and civil society. Furthermore, multi-stakeholder partnerships must be established at regional level to analyse specific technical, operational and organizational problems and commit to potential solutions through a bottom-up approach. These partnerships should also provide an overview of funding possibilities at regional, national and transnational level.

Visit: alpinnoctoolbox.eu

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AlpInnoCT – 6 Political Action Sheets

Alpine countries and regions prioritize Combined Transport (CT) differently because there is no common understanding of the role of accompanied and unaccompanied CT. Several Alpine countries currently do not use the full potential of the EU framework. As a result, there is still considerable potential to promote technological innovations of CT and enhance research and development, which needs to be organized in a more coherent and integrated way. The absence of transparent, easily accessible incentives and the inadequacy or even absence of subsidies in some countries and/or regions discourages rail freight transport, which is already weakened by the lack of internalization of external costs for road freight traffic.

Action Sheet #4: Financial Support for Combined Trans-port: Julia Elsinger (bmvit) and Federico Cavallaro (EURAC) presented AS #4

• Action Sheet #1: General upgrade of rail infrastructure connecting Combined Transport nodes with the main corridors and a special focus on relevant feeder lines.

• Action Sheet #2: Improvements and expansion of terminal infrastructure with new terminals, cooperation and networking

• Action Sheet #3: Higher prioritisation of rail freight transport

• Action Sheet #4: Financial support for Combined Transport

• Action Sheet #5: Fostering harmonization of data and data exchange

• Action Sheet #6: Support communication to raise awareness on Combined Transport and empower local capability for Combined Transport problem-solving

Visit: alpinnoctoolbox.eu

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Panel DiscussionThe panel discussion took place at the end of the Dialogue Event with speakers and further AlpInnoCT project partners:

(From left to right): Karl Schumacher (StMB), Django Betschart (Alpine-Initiative); Stane Božičnik (University of Maribor); Kasper Schuler (CIPRA), Massimiliano Angelotti (Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia); Giorgio Travaini (s2r); Ad Toet (Koninklijk Nederlands Vervoer Coordinator EU project ELETA); Wolfgang Backhaus (Rupprecht Consult, moderator).

Before starting the panel discussion, all participants voted online (via mentimeter.com) for a prioritisation of policy recommendations presented beforehand.

The majority of the participants voted for the “General upgrade of rail infrastructure connecting Combined Transport nodes with the main corridors and a special focus on relevant feeder lines”.

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Key Take-Aways from our Discussions

Some key take-aways from our analysis are as follows:

The Free State of Bavaria supports Alpine-Space- wide cooperation like the AlpInnoCT project

which enabled a common orientation of all actors

and led to innovations and policy recommendations

fostering sustainable transport in our region.

(Karl Schumacher, StMB, Lead Partner AlpInnoCT)

In the AlpInnoCT project we have seen that research and innovation together with transport political support is the key to

success when it comes to modal shift from road to rail.

(Stane Božičnik, University of Maribor).

AlpInnoCT project outcomes prove that

transnational cooperation is of utmost importance to

foster a modal shift in freight transport.

(Massimiliano Angelotti, Regione Friuli Venzia Giulia) ”

“

It is not enough that single countries foster the mod-

al shift. There is a lack of a coordinated European ap-proach to make transport

more sustainable.

(Kaspar Schuler, CIPRA Lab GmbH)

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Conclusions

This event was a final public opportunity within the project’s lifetime to facilitate the interactions of important Alpine Freight Transport Actors toward more sustainable approaches. The conference successfully brought together a wide array of stakeholders and target groups, as economic representatives, political administration and NGOs jointly discussed solutions to make cross-border freight transport across the Alps more sustainable.

Not only did the final conference promote and disseminate the goals and accomplishments that AlpInnoCT achieved, but it reinforced the participation of stakeholders with one another. Major takeaways were an increased understanding of their relation to one another and to the project’s outcomes (e.g. NGOs understood the challenges of forwarders; economic representatives understood limitations of Alpine freight traffic, etc.).

Stakeholders were thus fully equipped and motivated to perpetuate the project’s ambitious results after its close. Political Action Sheets that were produced during the conference’s Dialogue Event helped solidify the roles, involvement, and commitment of all stakeholders in taking freight transport towards a more sustainable future, and the knowledge and approaches created by AlpInnoCT will consequently continue to influence modal shift of freight transport within the Alpine Space region.

Next StepsKnowledge transfer: Project results will be transferred to relevant decision makers in and outside the Alpine Space through the actions of stakeholders.

Results will be transferred to relevant political working groups in the Alpine Space, like EU-SALP AG4, Transport Working Group of the Alpine Convention, iMONITRAF! Network and the Zurich Process.

Some AlpInnoCT partners are either active partners or observers in these networks and will demand the implementation of AlpInnoCT recommendations step by step and beyond the project.

“ In Switzerland we have already achieved a successful modal shift. Our experience should [now] be transferred to the decision makers at

the European level. ”

Django Betschart, Alpine-Initiative

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Annex

Presentations

Bavaria to the European Union in Brussels.

The INTERREG Alpine Space Programme by Anne-Séverine Lay, Joint Secretariat, INTERREG Alpine

Space Programme

Innovative solutions achieved in the Shift2Rail R&I programme by Giorgio Travaini, Head of

Research and Innovation, Shift2Rail

Shift to rail – the potential of automated train operations. More efficient last mile operation with

SAMIRA an Wagon 4.0 by Prof. Dr. Raphael Pfaff, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Enning, FH Aachen

University of Applied Sciences

AlpInnoCT pilot actions by AlpInnoCT project partners TX Logistik AG & ZAILOG SCARL

The CEF project ELETA - Electronic exchange of ETA information by Ad Toet, Coordinator EU

project ELETA

AlpInnoCT – policy recommendations by AlpInnoCT project partners CIPRA, bmvit & Eurac

https://www.alpine-space.eu/