Railways in Transition – Eastern Europe Railways. Past, Present and Future in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Third International Conference on Railway History

< Prev5 /10 EventsNext >

Railways in Transition – Eastern Europe Railways. Past, Present and Future in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Third International Conference on Railway History

Organizer
International Railway History Association
Venue
City Hotel Bratislava
Location
Bratislava, Slovakia
Country
Slovakia
From - Until
24.09.2009 - 26.09.2009
Deadline
14.09.2009
Website
http://www.aihc-irha-aihf.com
By
Dr. Ralf Roth

What about is the conference?
This 3rd international conference will assess 20 years of dramatic changes which transformed the European transport networks since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Since the unexpected fall of the Iron Curtain, Europe’s two halves, torn apart by the Cold War, are beginning to come together again. The divided Europe was marked by severed traffic routes, dead end railway stations along the border, limitations of the right to move and travel, a general slow-down, and bureaucratic obstacles.

Since 1989, Europe has made an effort to reconnect severed rail-way lines, to repair and restart decommissioned and blocked East-West connections. It is obvious that a modern and reunited Europe cannot exist without a unified and modernized transportation system in which the railway mode has a major part to play.
The political changes were accompanied by tremendous economic and social changes,including an explosive expansion of trans continental bus lines and airtransport connections that drew these societies into alignment and connection with the Western world.
This raises some important questions concerning the railway transportation network:

What had been the political, geopolitical and economical context in Eastern Europe in the period between 1945 and 1989?
How the transition starting in 1989 influenced the railways systems as a whole and the national railway companies in particular?
How were this radical transformation and the drastic increase in competition managed?

What efforts have been undertaken for technological and administrative modernisation?
What is the status of the reconstruction of old rails and stations ?
What about the discussion on privatisation?
What role did the West European plans and visions for a Trans-European Railway Network (TEN) play in the discussion on modernisation?

This means pointing out the role explicitly played by European institutions in developing and regulating railways in the countries concerned. Those are the questions which the conference will address. Researchers, policy makers, railway companies representatives will find there a place for an informed discussion on transport-strategy.

Supported by Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer (UIC); Železnice Slovenskej Republiky (ŽSR) (slovak railways, infrastructure); Železničná Spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) (passengers company); Železničná Spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia (ZSSK Cargo) (freight company); Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF); Henry Cuny, Ambassador of France to Slovakia

Programm

Thursday, 24 September 2009
Arrival
Registration

13:30 to 15:00: Conference Opening
Welcome speeches by L’ubomir Važny (Minister of Transport – to be confirmed), Milan Chupek (Director General of ŽSR – to be confirmed), Henry Cuny (Ambassador of France to Slovakia) and Henry Jacolin (IRHA, President)

Key note speech by Paul Véron (UIC): The role of transport in Europe after reunification

Introduction into the subject of the conference by Ralf Roth (IRHA, General Secretary)

15:00 to 17:30 First Session: Historical Overview of Railways in Eastern European Countries
Zdeněk Tomeš: European railways – an application of the life-cycle theory

Jan Musekamp: The Royal Prussian Eastern Railway (Ostbahn) and its importance for East-West transportation

Martin Kvizda: Odd military lines – a comparative analysis of the Czech railway network’s efficiency

Imre Perger: History of Railway Passenger Transportation in Hungary, XXth-XXIst Centuries

Dušan Lichner: History, Present and Future of Railway Transport on the Territory of Current Slovakia

18:30 Departure for dinner in the outskirts of Bratislava offered by ŽSR

Friday, 25 September 2009

9:00 to 12:30 Second Session: Under Russian Protection
Tomáš Nigrin: Cold War Crisis on the Railway: the Impact of the Construction of Berlin Wall on the Railway Traffic in Berlin

Ivan Jakubec: The Transport under the Socialism. The Case of the Czechoslovak State Railways 1948-1989

Milan Klubal: History of Railway Transport in Slovakia – from the Beginning up to Renewal and Modernisation after WWII

Ihor Zhaloba: The Development of Ukrainian Railways: the Heritage of the Soviet Union and new Perspectives

Henry Jacolin: The Access of Serbia to the Sea (1832–2006)
Lunch, City Hotel Bratislava (for registered participants only, at their own expenses)

15:00 to 18:30 Third Session (part I to III): After the Fall of the Iron Curtain: Changes – Problems – Modernisation

Part I
Ralf Roth: The integration of the East German Railways (Deutsche Reichsbahn) into the Deutsche Bahn

Peter F. N. Hörz and Marcus Richter: Seen from the Drivers’ Cabins: The Process of German Railway´s Privatization since the Reunion of Deutsche Bundesbahn and Reichsbahn from the Engine Driver´s Perspective

Part II
Kevin Sutton: The Vienna Main station/Semmering base tunnel projects: European Union faces up its reunification

János Majdán: Models on Railways development in the Danubian Region in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Part III
István Neumann: The thesis of Viktor Borza Integrational Timetable – How Passanger Transport could be Profitable

Miklós Devecz: The Role and The Situation of The Private Rail Freight Operators in CEE – From the point of view of OKD, Doprava
Free evening

Saturday, 26 September 2009

9:00 to 12:30: Forth Session: Heritage and its Use
András Szendrey: Preservation of the Past of Railways – Possibilities of a Renewal and Inventory Taking of the Technical Heritage of Eastern Europe

Valcheva Rumyana: The Heritage of Bulgarian Railways
József Soltész: Preserved Steam Locomotives in Hungary from 1966 to 2009

Rainer Mertens: The Heritage of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and its Presentation in the Deutsche Bahn Museum in Nuremberg

12:30: Buffet Lunch City Hotel Bratislava (for registered participants only, at their own expenses)

13:30 Departure from the City hotel for a visit of the Transportation Museum of Bratislava
16:00 Back to the Hotel and end of Conference

Location
City Hotel Bratislava, Seberíniho 9, 82103 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
tel.: +421 2 20 606 100, bratislava@cityhotels.sk
www.cityhotels.sk/bratislava

Contact (announcement)

Henry Jacolin
Secrétariat, c/o Henry Jacolin, 8 rue des Ecoles - F-75 005 Paris France
e-mail: henry.jacolin@free.fr
FAX +33(0) 143 540 563

http://www.aihc-irha-aihf.com
Editors Information
Published on
Author(s)
Contributor
Citation ⇓
Classification
Temporal Classification
Regional Classification
Subject - Topic
Additional Informations
Type
Country Event
Language(s) of event
English
Language of announcement