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Tramways are back in Barcelona
34 years after the closure of the last tramway line serving the Catalan capital city, four lines of the new tramway network of Barcelona (see EMTA News n°2) were inaugurated in April and May. This network consists in two separate infrastructures: Trambaix, connecting Barcelona with Southern suburbs, and Trambesos, connecting Barcelona with Northen suburbs. Trambaix,
Towards more integrated and more reliable rail services in London ?
Heavy rail carries 42% of morning peak passengers into central London; it is a backbone of the public transport systems of the British capital city. Surveys show that Londoners make seven times more rail journeys than people in other UK cities, and that one third of all rail journeys in the country are made wholly
Bike+Ride and integrated information in Rhine-Ruhr
VRR, the public transport authority of the German Rhine-Ruhr conurbation (7.2m inhab. on a 5,000 km2 territory), incites passengers of public transport to use bicycle to go to stations. More than 8,000 bicycles can be parked close to stations, and the number is growing very fast. A list of these Bike and Ride facilities can
Stockholm will try congestion charging during one year
The municipality of Stockholm adopted a proposal to introduce a congestion charging scheme covering the complete inner-town of the city for a 13- month trial period starting in June 2005. During this period, all car drivers entering or leaving the area between 6.30am and 6.30pm will have to pay a charge of SEK 2 (€2.2)
20 years of successful transport and fare integration in the region of Vienna
VOR, the public transport authority for the region of Vienna-Eastern Austria (2.6m inhab. on 8,400 km2) will celebrate in June its 20th birthday. The first steps towards fare integration took place in 1961 with an agreement between Austrian national railways ÖBB and Wiener Linien, the public operator of urban transport systems in Vienna. This was
New European transport research program
The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) exposed its strategic research program, underlining the importance of mobility improvement and reduction of noise and pollution. In the field of individual mobility, the research program aims at providing the relevant solutions to satisfy the expected 32% growth in demand by 2020. Focus will be made on
The European Commission proposes a new Directive to ensure that Member States save each year at least 1% more energy
The Commission released in December a draft Directive aiming to boost the cost-effective and efficient energy use in the EU. The proposal sets a framework with common definitions, tools, methodology targets and obligations, both for the public and for the private sectors. The Directive sets a target of energy saving of 1% per year, that
The European Commission proposes new rules to increase the legal certainty of services of general economic interest
Following the Altmark judgement of the European Court of Justice in July 2003 (see EMTA News n° 14), and the Green Paper on Services of General Interest, the Commission (DG Competition) has started consultations to set out clear criteria for the assessment of compensations paid by Member States to undertakings providing services of general interest.
From the second to the third “Rail Package”
The second railway package, that aims to accelerate the opening to competition of the rail freight markets in Europe (see EMTA News n° 13) was still being debated by the Conciliation Committee between the Council of Ministers of Transport and the European Parliament as this issue of EMTA News went to press. The Ministers and
Towards a European strategy for sustainable urban environment
The European Commission adopted on 11 January a Communication (COM(2004)60) setting out its ideas for the Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment due in summer 2005. In this document, that is being submitted to a widespread consultation, the Communication sets out the problems and challenges facing Europe’s urban areas, focusing on 4 priority themes :
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