railway performance

European Rail Infrastructure Managers work together to improve railway performance The third European Infrastructure Managers' conference is being held next week (14th December) in Malmö, Sweden. The event is being run in conjunction with the European Infrastructure Managers group - a body of nine European Railway companies - which aims to develop strategies to stimulate rail traffic across Europe. Last year's conference in London saw over 50 senior figures from 13 of Europe's railway bodies coming together to discuss the challenges and solutions facing the railways across Europe, concentrating on performance issues. This year, a similar number of senior and middle managers will take the issues forward, building on the foundations created last year. The aim is to understand more about the challenge of improving railway performance across Europe. The day will be structured around workshops to allow participants to share best practice around improving performance. Representatives from different companies across Europe will deliver presentations outlining the performance challenges faced by European rail companies. Management methods, incentives schemes and restrictive infrastructure problems will all be discussed in detail; delegates will then take part in seminar discussions to explore the topics further. - The European railways are facing tough competition from other modes of transport, be it passenger or freight traffic, says Björn Östlund, head of infrastructure management at Swedish Banverket. The quality of services delivered is the key to future growth, where infrastructure plays an important role. Sharing knowledge and developing common actions can improve our competitive edge. The conference is also proof of a growing determination in the railway industry to ensure that rail plays a key role in an integrated European transport network, a publicly declared objective of the national governments and the European Commission. General information on Banverket: www.banverket.se (press "In english") ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/12/06/20001205BIT00060/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/12/06/20001205BIT00060/bit0002.pdf