CONCLUSIONS OF THE 1ST RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGERS' CONGRESS

Modern way of life and, connected to it, a demand for the appropriate mobility of the increasing number of people as well as the qualitative supplying of economy dictate the development of efficient and successful transport systems. An important part of these is also the railway traffic system within which activities of the railway infrastructure managing take place.

Profession and science are of the utmost importance with the railway infrastructure managing. Political decisions that are shaped through the directions of traffic policy (local, regional, national, European) can efficiently contribute to the realization of the set goals but only if they are developed with the cooperation of the profession and science.

The arrangements of the European and also the Slovene traffic policy that are directed toward the encouragement of railway traffic system development are prepared in the manner, which takes into account the advantages of railway traffic system due to the environmental acceptability and, consequently, the realistic possibility of an intensified development.

European legislation and directions about the railway traffic system handling require measures that contribute to the escalation of the efficiency, or better, the demanding increase of the railway traffic system productivity and ensure the complete quality of transport services in the European Union.

Slovenia has chosen this path, mostly due to the awareness of its responsibility and role in the future European traffic system. Current legislation is comparable with the European, meaning that it enables the required reorganization of the railway traffic system and the normal functioning of the railway infrastructure manager. Public agency for the railway traffic in the republic of Slovenia was founded by the Slovene government as the railway infrastructure manager of Slovenia.

Slovenia with its goestrategical and geopolitical position on the crossroad of the fifth and tenth pan-European corridor can represent, with the strict implementation of the legislation, an efficient example of the qualitative railway system transformation reaching the goal of ensuring this in the future European Union.

Railway infrastructure managing is a heterogeneous, complex activity that comprises the complete care for the railway infrastructure development, its maintenance, upgrading, and modernization.

Implementation of the railway infrastructure managing system depends on global directions (EU directions), national conditions and advantages. Primarily the latter are the reason why in the EU there is no railway infrastructure-managing model and that the individual concrete solutions from this field significantly differ. Slovenia due to its advantages and interests for the efficient railway infrastructure managing is no exception in this.

International associations like the European Railway Infrastructure Managers Association carry an important role with the synchronization and the encouragement of the complete solutions in the railway infrastructure-managing field and enable the necessary exchange of experiences of this new, but rapidly growing interdisciplinary field.

Professional meetings (like the RIMC 2003 Railway Infrastructure Managers’ Congress) significantly contribute to the exchange of knowledge and experiences among various subjects in the process of railway infrastructure managing on both international and pan-national level. Therefore, it is quite necessary to ensure the lasting manner of this kind of cooperation.

With professional work it is of the utmost importance to include the wider professional and other public since this is the only way to ensure the completeness and adequacy of these in general interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary professional decisions. In this the cooperation of scientists and experts from the Slovene and other European universities is the key factor.

Railway Infrastructure Managers’ Congress should become a permanent international event on which the most distinguished professionals from various fields of railway infrastructure managing will participate. The basic goal of the Congress will be the exchange of professional experiences and encouraging of the cooperation between companies and individuals, who work in the field of railway infrastructure managing.

RIMC 2003 organizing committee