The Joint Session was organized to coincide with the partners’ meetings of the two projects related to the European Programme Alpine Space. Main organizers were the Italian Ministry for the Environment and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (FAO), which also benefitted of the support from other relevant institutions and organizations. The audience included participants in the projects coming from several countries of the Alpine arch such as Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Slovenia, as well as further institutional representatives from the Italian Ministry of Transport and UNEP.

Most of them came to take part in the two day working meeting of the TRANSITECTS Project, held on the 12 and 13 July 2010. The 6th Transnational Working Meeting of the TRANSITECTS Project’s Partners focused mainly on activities currently on schedule under the Project Work Packages, achieving the expected results. The project, promoted by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), focuses on the sustainability of transport in the Alps, addressing in particular the issue of freight and passengers’ displacements by railway.

On 13 July, also a Technical Meeting of the European Project AlpCheck 2 was held in FAO. AlpCheck 2 Project aims at improving sustainable mobility within the Alpine area and it is being co-financed as TRANSITECTS in the framework of the Alpine Space Programme. Partners responsible of some Working Packages met on 13 July in FAO to discuss further developments, and they continued working on 14 July in the EURAC Representing Office in Rome.

The Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, Mr. Douglas McGuire introduced the Joint Session with a speech regarding “Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas”. Mr. McGuire stressed the importance of multilateral projects focusing on mountain areas through different perspectives, such as TRANSITECTS and AlpCheck 2 are doing in the Alps. Projects or experiences focusing on transportation related to the mountain environment are welcomed by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, which may facilitate exchanges and contribute to widening it from a European to a global scope.

Mr. McGuire also spoke about the SWOMM Side Event at the CSD18 (Commission on Sustainable Development) at the UN Headquarters in New York last May, describing it a successful experience of dissemination of the outcomes of research and activities carried out within the Alpine Space. The Side Event arose within the framework of the existing cooperation between the Italian Ministry for the Environment and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat.

After Mr. McGuire’s presentation, the partners from the two projects and other experts carried on working jointly in the Ethiopia Room, discussing common synergies and they engaging in the preparation of the upcoming WP7 cross-fertilization workshop.

Agenda of the Joint Session of the TRANSITECTS & AlpCheck 2 Projects

List of involved institutions and organizations
A Technical Study and Engineering Centre: CETE Méditerranée – France
A.L.O.T. s.c.a r.l. – Agency of East Lombardy for Transports and Logistics – Italy
Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Department I/K7 Combined Transport - Austria
Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – Central Directorate for mobility, energy and transport infrastructure – Italy
Board of Building and Public Works within the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior - Germany
Carinthian Regional Government – Department 7 – Economic Law and Infrastructure – Austria
European Academy of Bolzano Bozen – Institute for Regional Development and Location Management – Italy
German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development – Germany
Government of Carinthia – Department of economic law and infrastructure – Austria
Governmental Office of Land Salzburg, Dept.of traffic engineering and public transportation – Austria
Governmental Office of the Land of Tyrol, Dept. of traffic engineering – Austria
Joint State Planning Department of Berlin and Brandenburg – Germany
Logistic Kompetenz Zentrum – Germany
Lombardy Region, Directorate General Handicraft and Services – Italy
Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea – Italy
Ministry of Transport – Italy
Ministry of Transport Slovenia – Slovenia
Mountain Partnership Secretariat (FAO) – UN
Regional Association Donau-Iller – Germany
Regional Union of Veneto Chambers of Commerce – Italy
Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Transport, Slovene Roads Agency – Slovenia
Research Institute for Ecology and Economy Applied to Alpine Areas – Italy
Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation – Germany
TCI Röhling – Transport Consulting International – Germany
UNEP - UN
Valle d’Aosta Region – Italy
Veneto Region – Italy
Venice Port Authority – Italy

In Italy an interesting case in the Alpine area is represented by the “Intelligence Control System” project, launched by Regione Piemonte in cooperation with scientific and technical partners. It aims at providing an all-inclusive service to travellers: for instance travellers’ vehicles are used to collect data which are processed in a later stage (e.g. traffic flow is calculated in relation with weather conditions). The resulting “Infomobility system” is easy to access for citizens, and should allow them to get useful information and plan their journeys in advance, limiting trip time, traffic congestion and noxious emissions. Some interesting projects already exist on that territory and were developed by skilled professionals.

Experts from all the Alpine countries are discussing on these topics in the frame of the Alpine Convention Working Group on Transport.

Some questions are still open, and might be asked to the conference’s participants: are European tourists ready to use public transport to visit mountain destinations? Are well built Infomobility systems likely to produce behavioural change in people using their own car to reach Alpine destinations? How much would an extensive use of ICT in the mobility sector cost to local governments? Do the expected advantages counterbalance the required public expenditure?

Other articles  you might be interested in!

Infomobility @ Comune di Biella (Italy)

Radio Traffic: live maps from the Regione Piemonte web site

Infomobility @ the Italian Innovation Forum 2009

In the future of Alpine tourism and more in general of mountain regions, private mobility is due to become increasingly limited. Public transport therefore will probably have a stronger role. We have asked dr. Genova if he believes that ICT will introduce profound changes as it has already occurred in other fields of application.

Dr. Genova replied: “The use of electric vehicles provides a number of specific advantages which make them particularly attractive for urban traffic and in valuable areas such as mountain areas: low emissions, silence, better efficiency in stop and go journeys. It appears as the most convincing answer to environmental issues.

It is in this direction that the project and industrial efforts have focused their attention to define new ways of using electric buses. This innovation can extend the range of their use and therefore reduce electric buses’ running costs. Among the most promising options available, the effectiveness of which are validated by the daily use by some brave transport companies, are the inductive fast recharge for electric buses, and the use of turbines for recharging batteries of hybrid buses on board .

Public transport can and must in this way play a critical role inducing citizens to an ever more frequent use of collective means of transport: the town of Wengen, in the Bernese Alps can be reached only with Wengenalpenbahn and mobility is only for pedestrians. Delivery services are guaranteed thanks to the use of small electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles, special plants, ICT systems supporting mobility: today there is plenty of technological solutions but also the needed financial tools. Many national and regional laws offer incentives for the purchase of public and private electric vehicles: less frequent have been until now interventions in the field of operative facilitations which are part of the leeway of local administrations whom have been recently increasingly interested in environmental issues”.