The BRAIN-TRAINS consortium cordially invites you to their final colloqium in Brussels on Thursday 30th of August 2018.
Location: FOD Mobility and Transport, Vooruitgangstraat / Rue du Progrès 56, 1210 Brussel / Bruxelles
Upon arrival, please also register at the main floor to collect your event badge, which you must keep with you at all times. The event will take place on the third floor.
Program:
- 12.30 – 13.30: Walking sandwich lunch
- 13.30 – 14.00: Opening by Minister of Mobility, François Bellot
- 14.00 - 15.15: Plenary presentation
- 15.15 - 15.30: Coffee Break
- 15.30 - 16.15: Round Table (select a topic during registration)
- 16.15 - 17.00: Round Table (repetition - select another topic during registration)
- 17.00 - 18.00: Closing and Reception
For the round table discussion, 2 topics can be selected during registration:
Operational corridor and hub development
By modelling the maangerial problem using mathematical programming and optimization techniques,the potential efficiency of intermodal rail transport in Belgium is highlighted. The objective is to give more insight on the decision-making process of the different stakeholders in the intermodal transportchain. Two main views are adopted: domestic scale, where only national flows within Belgium are considered, and European scale, whereBelgium is regardedas a main start/endpoint of the flows. For the belgian case, also the flow behavior between road and intermodal transport are identified. An economic perspective (minimization of operational costs) is compared to two environmental perspectives (minimization of CO2emissions and air pollution external costs). An intermediate policy which focuses on operational costs by including road taxes is also analyzed.
Economic impact
Direct and indirect economic effects are measured by means of a national input-output analysis and a micro-economic analysis on added value and employment. For the direct effects, three indicators are calculated on company level: (i) added value per FTE, (ii) Added value per production unit and (iii) added value range. For the indirect effects, the land transport sector is split into rail freight transport activities and remaining land transport activites. As such, the multiplier effects of rail freight transport on the belgian economy can be estimated.
Sustainability
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been chosen to analyse the environmental impact of rail freight transport. Moreover, a comparison between the environmental impacts related to rail freight transport, inland waterways transport and road transport has been performed. The LCA methodology allows modelling in a quantitative and multi-criteria way the environmental impacts of all relevant pollutant emissions and energy and material consumptions in numerous midpoint environmental impact categories, such as climate change, resource depletion, acidification, human toxicity or ecotoxicity for example.
Regulation
A detailed study on the levers for policy makers to increase the market size in a context of free competition and the policy path that can be drawn for the identified scenarios. Also the current level of liberalization and the risk of market concentration by 2030 is analyzed. The new regulation framework and levers for Belgian and European policy-makers to influence the rail freight market are analyzed. This is done by a qualitative approach of the rail regulation in Europe and Belgium which is improved by a benchmark analysis through a selected number of European countries to provide an overview of the main challenges for rail in terms of regulation and practices. For the market concentration a new framework and tools to test the risk of concentration and slow development in the Belgian rail freight market are analyzed.
Governance and organization
For each of the constructed scenarios the required level of policy-level and administrative integration is identified, as well the current status of both forms of integration of the reference situation. Policy-level integration refers to the extent to which political actors try to create greater coherence in decision-making for issues that transcend the boundaries of established policy fields, and which do not correspond to the institutional responsibilities of individual departments. Administrative integration, then, denotes the extent to which involved administrative actors (together with private or privatized companies, civil society organizations, etc.) streamline practices and activities in the policy implementation phase.
We hope to see you on thursday 30th of August 2018 !
Best regards,
The BRAIN-TRAINS consortium