The IRFC 2022 conference will take place from 5 to 7 October 2022 – i.e. in the middle of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU. It will therefore be possible to partially assess whether the Czech Republic’s priorities for transport, and especially for rail, have been set correctly during the Presidency. This will be a topic at the very beginning of the Presidency, which will open up further discussion on the importance of rail in the European transport system, what supports the development of rail and on the other hand what in some cases hinders it. The fact that representatives of all areas of the rail sector will be able to discuss in one place is going to be a major advantage of the conference.
IRFC has long focused on strategic areas of rail transport. In summary, there are several very distinct sections. The first session, moderated by Libor Lochman, will feature a wide range of speakers, starting with the Mrs. Commissioner for Transport, the Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic and representatives of the European and Czech rail sectors. The theme of this session is the strategic direction of rail in the post-COVID era, to meet the EU Green Deal objectives and other current needs related to the geopolitical situation. The presentations of the individual speakers will always reflect the main objectives of the overall policy and strategy for the direction of rail as the backbone of mobility in the EU and Member States from the perspective of politicians, transport operators, infrastructure managers and the supply industry. The most important sectoral associations, such as CER, UIC, UNIFE, whose view on the strategic direction of European railways is very important for the preparation and implementation of common EU objectives, will be represented by their top officials. There will then be more than enough time for during the moderated discussion for any additional explanations and answers to questions from the audience.