Railways in Europe and European transport policy

5 Oct 2015 Rail Transport series 2006-2007

Daniel Seidenglanz

1. ed. Brno: Masaryk University, 2006. 82 p. Rail transport. ISBN 80-210-4221-4

The main meaning of transport can be considered the fact that it allows to overcome the barrier of the space, thus making it possible to create interactions between differently disposed places of the earth's surface. As a result, transport is considered to be a factor that significantly shapes the formation of the settlement and economic structure of the world.

The content of the study can be divided into several sub-blocks, which gradually focus on individual rail transport aspects within the European Union. Attention is paid mainly to the following topics:

• the development of the European transport market, with the main attention being paid to its current form and the position of railways on it (loss of railways positions in passenger and freight transport, the rise of dominance of road transport);
• analysis of the factors that led to such a development of the transport market (the development of railways in the national states, the construction of cheap railways, the state as railway manager, the emergence of competitive road and air transport during the 20th century, the wider context of changes in demand for transport);
• comparative advantages of rail transport (environmental and social aspects of transport as a whole and of individual modes of transport, segments of transport market with competitive status of the railways);
• railways in the common European transport policy (the history of European transport policy, rail as its strategic element seen as an important tool towards a sustainable transport system, an overview of key measures aimed at improving the potential of rail transport);
• a critical assessment of European transport policy, focusing primarily on the starting points and the real impacts of the stated objectives.

Full text to download here: Seidenglanz_studie_2006