EU project ECORailS: Concluding conference in Berlin.

As part of the EU project ECORailS, participants from six European countries are meeting in Berlin today for their final project conference, where they will present their Guidelines for reducing the energy consumption and noise emissions of rail transport. The Guidelines will, for the first time, give European Public Transport Authorities (PTAs), which are responsible for awarding regional transport contracts, a hands-on instrument that can bring about immediate specific energy savings of five percent when put into practice. The Guidelines are the result of two years of collaboration on the project, which was coordinated by environmental expert Matthias Pippert of the German Pro-Rail Alliance (Allianz pro Schiene).

Systematic integration of all the participants in rail transport

The goal of the EU project ECORailS is to instigate Europe-wide cooperation between the various participants in rail transport to systematically enable energy savings to be made. This is due to the fact that massive amounts of energy could be saved in Europe's passenger rail transport system if train operators, the manufacturers and PTAs were better integrated and if the process of awarding contracts could be optimised. Any environmental innovations coming onto the market will also be more efficiently utilized. The Guidelines presented today bring together all these market developments, and provide detailed expertise. In summing up the quintessence of the Guidelines, Dirk Flege, managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, said: "We can put on record that an environmentally oriented awarding process can reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions Europe-wide by five percent with immediate effect and by 15 percent by 2020."

An awarding process oriented towards the environment leads to energy efficiency

This is because there is one decisive factor: the greatest potential for making savings lies in energy efficient driving techniques, and this can be influenced through an optimised awarding process. For example, indicators such as kWh per seat-kilometre should play a role in contracts awarded in the future. Furthermore, the guidelines present a catalogue of eleven energy saving technologies and operative measures, as well as legally compliant text modules that can be used in an environmentally oriented awarding process. Matthias Pippert said: "These Guidelines are a real opportunity for PTAs because they can now actively influence energy consumption and noise pollution. We are of course hoping that our Guidelines will meet with the approval of Europe's regions and that our suggestions for energy efficient driving techniques will be implemented, including general, overall improvements to timetables and infrastructure." The spokesman for the Pro-Rail Alliance's supporting members, Klaus Baur, welcomed the fact that the Guidelines focus on energy consumption. "When it comes to awarding contracts for regional transport, energy consumption should be given much more consideration than in the past. A long-term and reliable awarding process strategy is also important so that the rail industry's innovation efforts are properly rewarded. And last but not least, the evaluation criteria must be transparent and easily understood by all participants," said Baur.

Preliminary tests: Potential for savings in Rumania is 30 percent

The ECORailS Guidelines have already been tested in four regions. Berlin-Brandenburg (Germany), Lombardy (Italy), Copenhagen - Øresund (Denmark) and Timisoara (Rumania) are exemplary for some of the very different initial conditions that can be found in the European Union. The results were very convincing: from the very start, PTAs were able to make savings of five percent, and trial measurements showed potential for savings from between 16 percent (Italy) and up to 30 percent in Rumania - according to the driving methods employed.
Other German organisations engaged in the ECORailS project included Berlin's Senate Department for Urban Development, the transport research and application association TSB-FAV, the Technical University Berlin, and the Strategy and Management Consultants KCW.