Berlin Transport Policy and Berlin interests in Rail Baltica Growth Corridor

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1 Berlin Transport Policy and Berlin interests in Rail Baltica Growth Corridor Dr. Friedemann Kunst 1. First, I would like to convey greetings from Berlins governing mayor, Mr. Klaus Wowereit. Unfortunately it is not possible for him to attend today s Rail-Baltica meeting. An assembly of the minister-presidents of the German federal states as well as the plenary meeting of the House of Representatives, Berlins City Parliament, kept him from travelling to Helsinki. However, he sends his best regards for a successful and interesting meeting. 2. First of all, let us briefly look back on the history of the Rail Baltica Corridor. Looking back in history, it becomes obvious that the poor accessibility of the Baltic States by railway is a result of historical and political circumstances. It is also a legacy of the former political separation of Europe that we now strive to overcome together in a joint European Union project. Prior to the First World War there were only two states along the Rail Baltica Corridor: Tsarist Russia and the German Empire. The development of railway networks predominantly followed military considerations. With regard to this, long checking times

2 2 at border crossing were also a means to reduce accessibility. The railway networks in the parts of Poland that back then belonged to Russia, as well as railways in the Baltic States and in Finland were directed towards Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Tsarist times, the railway tracks coming from Moscow and Warsaw had Russian standard gauge. They ended in Łódź, a centre of the textile industry, at today s terminus station. Yet there was no railway connection to the nearby border with Germany or to Poznan. In between the First and the Second World War the young Baltic States successfully contributed to the development of the first Rail Baltica to Central Europe, which was of international importance. The railroad map in the 1938 German railway timetable shows that back then the Rail Baltica led from Berlin via Küstrin to Königsberg (today Kaliningrad in Russia). The 1930s marked a brief golden age for railway transportation. The railroad networks in Lithuania and Latvia were oriented towards central Europe. Furthermore, they were partly converted to European standard gauge. The legendary luxury train Northern Express linked Paris and Oostende with the city of Riga. If you took the Northern Express from Berlin in the morning, you arrived in Riga in the early evening hours of the same day. Today, the same trip will take you more than 35 hours. Furthermore, the Rail Baltica was also used for taking goods and people as far as the Pacific Ocean. The express trains from Berlin to Riga were linked with Russian express trains in the

3 3 Latvian city of Daugavpils. The Russian trains then took business travellers and diplomats in transit via the Trans-Siberian Railroad towards Tokyo and Beijing. A Latvian railroad map from the year 1936 shows the orientation towards central Europe and the role of a hub towards the Pacific. Following the Second World War, Europe entered into a period of political separation. This also led to the rapid decline of railway transportation on the Rail Baltica. The Baltic States as well as the region surrounding Kaliningrad became a military area. Nearly all border crossings between the Soviet Union and Poland were closed. The railroads in the Soviet Union were entirely converted to Russian track gauge. At the same time, the network was directed towards Moscow. It was only in the 1980s that the railway connection Warsaw - Białystok -Vilnius - Leningrad was modernised and partly electrified. In the late 1980s, the Iron Curtain eventually came down and the Soviet Union finally collapsed. However, this led to yet a further deterioration of railway connections from Central Europe to the Baltic States. When the Baltic States became members of the European Union, the railroad linking Warsaw with Vilnius and St. Petersburg was disrupted. The reason was that north of Białystok a section of the line crossed Belarusian territory. As a temporary solution, a disused single-track branch line in the Polish Lithuanian border area was reactivated. This was the only

4 4 way to connect Lithuania to the European Union by railway at all.

5 5 3. Results of Rail Baltica I The Rail Baltica Growth Corridor project builds on the results of the previous project Rail Baltica I. Berlin and Brandenburg had already been active partners in the first project. As the new scheme brings together a number of new partners, I would like to briefly summarise the most important findings from Rail Baltica I : We identified the major bottleneck, where improvements in infrastructure are most urgently needed. It is the Polish section of the line from Białystok via the Lithuanian border station Sestokai to the Lithuanian station Kazlų Rūda. In Kazlų Rūda the only existing railway connection from Lithuania to Poland meets the railway line Kaliningrad - Kaunas Moscow. The modernisation of this line was funded by the European Union. South of Kazlų Rūda is where the single-track branch line that I referred to earlier was re-activated in The branch line was the only way to connect the Baltic States and the European Union within the Schengen Area. Furthermore, in the Polish Lithuanian border area only provisional track-gauge shifting facilities exist. Under these circumstances, it is simply not possible to establish a competitive and economic commercial freight transport by rail. The infrastructural deficits are quite obvious. However, there are also non-infrastructural problems that occur on all border stations and obstruct rail bound transportation ever since it has been privatised.

6 6 For example, national railway regulation authorities apply a different philosophy each with regard to cross-border rail vehicle licensing. Likewise, passenger transportation is subject to different national financing systems. To make things worse, timetable coordination is actually deteriorating, and the international tariff system is breaking apart. Just to give you an example, take PKP Intercity, the company that runs long-distance passenger trains in Poland. They have a modern night train (or sleeper train) with variable gauge axles. Initially, the train was designed to be used for passenger transport services between Warsaw and Vilnius. However, due to a number of legal and organisational problems, the train is not allowed to operate on that service. Instead, passengers have to transfer to busses at night, using what is called a rail replacement service. Another example relates to the Berlin Gorzów connection. Ever since the privatisation, there have been no more direct trains on that relation, and it is impossible to buy end-to-end tickets. What is more, passenger railway traffic between the Baltic States has ceased to exist at all. Previous research has also shown that the Baltic Sea Region is one of the predominant growth regions within the European Union. The economic integration is bound to increase. Yet if we do not succeed in improving rail infrastructure, the economic increase will lead to an enormous growth in road based freight

7 7 transportation. Already today, a number of areas along the Rail Baltica Corridor suffer from the negative impacts of freight transport by road. In addition, the further increase of road-bound transportation would be contradictory to the aims of the European Union as they are set down in the recently published Transport 2050: White Paper. 4. Berlins aims and interests: Due to historic reasons, but also because of is geographical location, the federal state of Berlin holds a lively interest in the shaping of European transport policy. Natural resources, and most importantly crude oil, are getting scarce, yet transport demand is still increasing. Therefore, as well as in the light of the green house effect, CO2-emissions in urban as well as in long-distance transportation need to be reduced. For some years now, Berlin has implemented an innovative urban transport strategy, which takes these developments into account. Thereby, increasing the share of low-emission or even emission-free transport modes plays an important role. In addition, we also want to support electro mobility. The city of Berlin shares the ambitious strategies and aims of the European Union and the White Paper Thus, provi-

8 8 sions should to be made at an early stage to increase long distance traffic by rail in a post-fossil age. Electrified railways thereby provide an opportunity to ensure the mobility of both goods and people in a post-fossil age by using energy from renewable resources. Likewise, they enable the replacement of heavy goods vehicles and long-distance short haul traffic. In its White Paper, the European Commission suggests to double the size of the high-speed network and to overcome all bottlenecks for freight transport. In this regard, the Polish Y- Project is a very important European Project. From the Berlin point of view, the planned high-speed connection should be extended as far as Berlin in such a way that the neighbouring cities of Szczecin, Gorzów and Zielona Góra could also benefit. Within the framework of the new Rail Baltica project, we want to discuss this issue with the national transport ministries in Germany and Poland. Another important aspect in this regard is the connection of our new Airport Berlin Brandenburg as well as the Polish airports with the high-speed network. Interlinking all cities provides a viable economic chance to all project partners to overcome their hitherto peripheral position. Because of this, the Y-Project is also an important project of the German-Polish Oder Partnership. Moreover, it is essential for further fostering cohesion in the European Union.

9 9 Additionally, the Y-Project may also contribute to overcoming railway bottlenecks for long-distance freight transportation on the TEN-Axis as capacities on the existing line will be made available. In a post-fossil age, Rail Baltica will furthermore be able to take on freight transport streams from a prospering Eastern Baltic Sea Region as well as from the Pacific Region to Central Europe. The freight terminals in Warsaw, Łódź, Poznan and Berlin-Großbeeren could become major hubs with additional value creation. It is therefore important to connect the freight terminals, so that freight streams may be bundled and more goods are transported by rail. Consequently, it appears to be vital for all project partners to solve the infrastructural problems in the Polish-Lithuanian border region, where most bottlenecks occur. As I have already mentioned, we also strive to solve tariff- and communication issues with regard to rail bound passenger transportation. One of the main partners in our region is thus the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association, which will build up a door-to-door timetable information system on the Rail Baltica corridor. 5. Summary and outlook

10 10 A very special feature of this project is that it practices and exercises co-operation between the local, regional and national level in different countries. I have been told that the co-operation between Helsinki and St. Petersburg is quite exceptional and that Finish and Russian actors in railway traffic work closely together. Here, the future of Rail Baltica has already started. As a result, the high-speed line connecting Helsinki to St. Petersburg has been realised already at the start of the project. We are looking forward to further working together with the urban administration of Helsinki. An intensive and friendly co-operation between our cities regarding different topics of urban development has been established for quite some time already. I wish the European Project dedicated partners and every success!