Single European Transport Area Research Articles

The Impact of Russia’s Military Aggression on Ukraine’s Accession to the Single European Transport Area

The events of recent years and the direct aggression of the Russian Federation have forced Ukraine to reformat the transport system on a large scale and intensify the accession to the Single European Transport Area (SETA). The aim of this study was to substantiate the thesis that the integration of Ukraine's transport system under the influence of Russia's military aggression is in line with its national interests. The study involved the methods of systems analysis, epistemological, dialectical and statistical methods, comparative law and the method of legal modeling. Definitely, SETA is based on the principles of unity, environmental friendliness, safety, economy, energy saving, branching and digital modernization. It is concluded that the legal framework for Ukraine's accession to SETA was established with the signing of the Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and its member states, on the other hand, in 2014. However, Russia's military aggression against Ukraine has significantly delayed the implementation of the SETA accession plan due to the destruction of many transport infrastructure facilities and economic recession, among other factors.

Advanced Railway Infrastructures Engineering

The European Commission is developing a Single European Transport Area and has promoted a modal shift from road to rail to achieve a more competitive and resource-efficient transport system [...]

CONTRIBUTION OF TRANSPORT SERVICES TO BULGARIA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Transport is considered one of the key sectors in terms of economic development. The quality of transport services and transport infrastructure is essential for the growth of the economy, the regular production operations in other sectors of the economy, and the satisfaction of people’s needs. As a full member of the European Union (EU), Bulgaria is committed to adopt and implement all of its internal policies and regulations, including those in the field of transport. Over the last two decades, the Community's efforts have been directed at building a well-functioning single European transport area, a transport system that is competitive and at the same time satisfies the contemporary social and environmental requirements. Therefore, a number of legislative changes concerning all modes of transport (rail, air, road and water) have been made. They all have a certain effect for the sector on a pan-European and national scale as well as for its contribution to economic development.The main objective of this paper is to analyze the contribution of transport services to the economic development of Bulgaria. The analysis is based on statistical data from various sources, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, Eurostat and the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria. These statistics include the number of persons employed in the sector, the national GDP level, and the volumes of export and import of goods and services. The analysis covers the period 2005-2017, which includes years from Bulgaria’s pre-accession and post-accession period.The results from the analysis show that transport services are a substantial part of the services sector in the country. During the investigated period the actual volumes of both exports and imports of transport services are increasing, while in relative terms the trend is different. A substantial part of the employed persons In Bulgaria are engaged in the sector of transport services – in 2017 they were 210.6 thousand, or 6.7% of all employed persons. Comparatively, according to data from Eurostat, this sector in the European Union provided employment for about 11 million people in 2016, which is more than 5% of the total employment in the Union. The paper also discusses the European regulations concerning the transport sector and the benefits from its development.

Analysis of freight railway transport in selected Eurasian transport corridors

The article presents an analysis of railway freight transport in selected Eurasian transport corridors. The role of railway transport in shaping the single European transport area and the benefits resulting from it have been defined. Technical barriers to the implementation of intercontinental traffic were presented and initiatives to activate international trade were discussed.

Driving societal changes towards an electromobility future

In Europe, road transport accounts for more than 71 % of transport-related CO2 emissions with cars accounting for 73 % of passenger traffic and the majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) related emissions. As part of the European strategies until 2030 and 2050, the European Commission’s (EC) White Paper BRoadmap to a Single European Transport Area Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system^ (EC [1]) points out the need to reduce GHG emissions from transport by at least 60 % until middle of the century (2050) with respect to 1990 levels. Until 2030, the goal is for transport to reduce GHG emissions by around 20 % with respect to 2008 levels. These decarbonisation targets impose significant economical, social and technological challenges. When moving towards a low carbon economy, electromobility is seen as a key component of the agenda for sus ta inable mobi l i ty in Europe . By 2050, Bconventionally fuelled vehicles^ (vehicles using nonhybrid, internal combustion engines) are expected to be banned from cities giving place to other technological options such as electric vehicles powered by electricity. These can make use of renewable energy sources which will reduce the carbon footprint from a life cycle analysis perspective. Recently, the European Commission adopted the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) with the aim to ensure EU’s leadership in the development and deployment of low carbon energy technologies in a costeffective way (EC [2]). Battery electric vehicles (BEVs), together with plug-in hybrid vehicles, only account for 0.5 % of the total new vehicle registrations in the EU-27 (EEA [4]). The use of renewable energy sources in the electricity production mix is important towards decarbonisation of the whole cycle: the Well-to-Wheel (WtW) cycle comprises the entire chain of production and usage of vehicles, the Well-to-Thank (WtT) and the Tank-to-Wheel (TtW) emissions. However, the use of renewable electricity in road transport remains low, around 13 kilotonnes oil equivalent (ktoe) (EEA [3]). Several barriers can be found in the literature as possible factors to justify the above panorama. The paper by Buhne, et al. in this special issue presents an overview and points out the obstacles to overcome to assure a higher market penetration of electric vehicles. On the one hand, the additional costs due to development of smart grids, intelligent electricity distribution systems and other infrastructure-related costs represent an additional investment in terms of construction and maintenance costs for road developers and managers (typically the public administration). On the other hand, the high purchase costs of electric vehicles, the limits imposed by low availability of charging infrastructure and its coverage, the charging time and the limited battery range often do not cope with main requirements of drivers’ daily activity patterns. Subjective factors such as those related to psychological aspects such as range anxiety and aesthetic variables have been proved to be a barrier, as well. Addressing these barriers will be important to increase the competitiveness of e-vehicles in Europe as pointed out by Figenbaum, et al. However, the social competitiveness of BEVs will depend to some extent on the evolution of price of fuels and electricity as well as the battery costs. Also, the internalisation of external costs included in the This article is part of the Topical Collection on Driving Societal Changes towards an Electro-mobility Future

Public Finance and Transport

The common market is considered to be one of the greatest benefits of European integration. The single European transport area with optimal modal split is a basic precondition for a common market in goods and the required high mobility of passengers. To assure smooth traffic flow, with the minimum of traffic accidents, and to be more environmentally friendly and energy efficient necessitates the maximum utilization of all current transport facilities that are available. However this shall not be enough. Regarding the delay in adapting the transport infrastructure to the enormous growth of traffic, it is necessary to increase investments into bottleneck removal and add new links according to new requirements. Some prioritization of investment in transport infrastructure is connected with the broad effort of public authorities to increase growth and employment in order to facilitate solutions to end the current crisis and assure the further development of the economy; the contribution of public funding is considered to be an important incentive for private capital inflow.

The future of sustainable transport system for Europe

The EU has launched targets for energy efficiency and the reduction in pollutant emissions in the transport sector. It establishes a framework to foster the promotion and development of a market for clean vehicles. In 2011 the EU passed a "Roadmap to a single European transport area--Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system". This roadmap includes 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and fuel growth and employment. The objectives concern well-functioning passenger and freight links that are vital for European undertakings and citizens. At the same time, the proposals will dramatically reduce Europe's dependence on imported oil. All in all the EU transport policies aim at fostering clean, safe and efficient travel throughout Europe, which requires innovations in many areas--like safe electric cars--and needs to engage not just the users but the entire transport industry facing drastic structural changes.

A Simulation Model for Road and Maritime Environmental Performance Assessment

The White Paper published in 2011, Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area [1], urges on a 30% modal shift of road freight over 300 km to other modes (rail, maritime and inland waterways) by 2030, and more than 50% by 2050. However the environmentally friendly performance of maritime transport regarding air pollutant emissions in comparison with road transport is in doubt. This paper presents a three dimension simulation model, in which performed transport work, arisen emissions and produced impact are estimated and inter-related for the assessment of the environmental performance of both road and maritime transport. The simulation model will be a valuable decision making tool for policymakers as it enables the precise assessment of considered transport alternatives in the EU27 until 2020, and hence supports the design of future intervening actions.

Foreword of the special issue co-editors

Logistics and freight transport show a rapid growth in the last two decades, driven by globalisation of production, distribution and sourcing and parallel to the growth of trade, which was almost double of the growth of production. The value added by this economic sector has increased accordingly and is estimated at about 10% of the total gross domestic product of the EU. As logistics and transport are not clustered as one sector in the statistics of national account this estimation is rough but it gives a good impression of the relevance for economic growth and prosperity. In recent years, the importance of big logistics hubs has been increasingly recognised such that they have become an intrinsic element of Transeuropean Networks according to the recently published guidelines. The efficient use of links, hubs and nodes has been a traditional field of logistics research. In a long-term view, dynamic efficiency of logistic systems implies not only individual cost minimisation but also a significant reduction in energy consumption and environmental costs. Therefore, the main issue of this volume is the combination of green and efficient logistics to guide this sector to a sustainable path. Transport’s share of total GHG emissions in the EU was 19% in 2009, and the contribution of freight transport to this figure is about one-third. This seems to be a modest share but one has to recognise that after a suitable disaggregation of GHG producers every sector appears to be small, such that ‘‘being a small contributor’’ cannot be used as a general argument to exclude a sector from contributing to the GHG reduction targets. These targets have been set rather ambitiously in the EU. In the medium term (until 2020), about 20–30% of CO2 emissions should be reduced, and in the long run (until 2050), this target is set at 80%, based on the 1990 level. For the transport sector, the target is slightly more modest at 60% until 2050 (see the EC White Paper 2011, Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area—Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system). But compared with the trend development which points to a further increase in CO2 emissions of more than 50% until 2050, this appears most challenging and implies that freight transport and logistics need to converge to a zero-carbon world within less than 40 years. The instruments for achieving such a radical change are manifold: energy efficient technology, alternative fuels, increased use of environmentally friendly transport modes, organisational adjustment or redesigning the interfaces M. Browne University of Westminster, London, UK