Rail towards 2050 – Vision and Roadmap for Sustainable Mobility

Joint final conference of the FP7 projects SPIDER PLUS and LivingRAIL on 23 April 2015, in European Parliament in Brussels.

Two projects, one goal: How can the railways support economic prosperity and liveability in Europe’s long term future? On behalf of the European Commission, the two research projects LivingRAIL and SPIDER PLUS developed mobility visions and roadmaps for 2050 where electrified rail takes a central role in passenger and freight mobility to achieve the European Commission´s Transport White Paper mode share targets.

Two approaches, one conclusion: In a joint conference, both projects will present and discuss their findings. Recommendations embrace railway investments, technologies and operations, European, national and local policies, spatial planning and the future of our cities. Brief presentations from LivingRAIL and SPIDER PLUS will introduce concepts to strengthen the European economy and society with high capacity and customer oriented railways.

Critical review: The meeting will finally give floor to a panel of high-ranking experts from the railways, policy, environment and social affairs. Discussions will delve into critical questions of feasibility, fundability and potential risks to the solutions proposed by the two sister projects.

The half day event, which will take place in the European Parliament, is hosted by Michael Cramer MEP, Chairman of the Committee for Transport and Tourism, and is chaired by Prof. Werner Rothengatter (KIT).