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17.03.2005
Lorry toll increases attractiveness of rail transport
The lorry toll has been successfully introduced and may now be followed by a city or car toll. Manfred Angel, CEO of the INGENO Group, welcomes these political signals: he believes that a consistent shift from road transport to more environmentally friendly rail transport is dependent on fair competition conditions.
| | |  | Manfred Angel is CEO of the INGENO Group. Companies of the INGENO Group
have been responsible for the technical equipment planning for the
Berlin-Hamburg line, major planning and project inspection for the
Munich S-Bahn main line, and for the planning and technical inspection
of Siemens’ largest electronic signal box in Magdeburg.
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No sooner had the last on-board unit (OBU) been installed than
different political parties started calling for a car toll to be
introduced. This was sparked off by statements from Werner Rothengatter
and Wolfgang Wiegand, transport advisers of the Federal Government. The
experts believed the car toll would probably be introduced after the
next national elections. They thus contradicted official statements by
Federal Chancellor Schröder and Federal Minister of Construction
Stolpe, who are categorically opposed to a car toll. For Stolpe,
however, a city toll levied by municipalities would be just as
conceivable as a car toll for completely privately financed and
maintained infrastructure projects.
INGENO CEO Manfred Angel welcomes the political declarations of intent.
„They are steps in the right direction. We have long criticised the
fact that rail transport is placed at a disadvantage to road
transport.“ In the Federal Transport Route Plan, for instance, not only
the motorways but also the federal roads are taken into consideration,
whereas for rail transport only the main road network is being
promoted, without any attention being paid to transit rail and regional
transport projects.
Angel sees the lorry toll as a contribution to levelling the playing
field between road and rail transport. „Rail transport has been
recording strong growth rates since the railway reforms in 1994. These
figures would even have been higher if there had not been indirect
subsidies for road transport.“ Thus, costs related to traffic accidents
or air pollution are not charged to the causers, but are borne by
taxpayers and health insurance contribution payers. A much discussed
issue today is whether to selectively pass on these costs to the
causers via a car toll.
How fast and to what extent the mobility behaviour of Germans will
change, primarily depends on the political agenda. „Germany’s rail
network already has the capacities to handle significantly higher
volumes of freight and passenger traffic in an environmentally
conscious manner“ says Angel.
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NEWS |
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| 26.10.2005 |
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| Modernisation of signalling systems in Latvia |
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| INGENO Europrojekte GmbH strengthens its presence in the Eastern European region: Alcatel SEL AG Stuttgart has entrusted the company with the implementation planning for signalling systems and underground cabling on the railway link between the Belorussian border near Indra and Ventspils, Latvia’s major port. In addition, INGENO Europrojekte GmbH has been awarded the order to manage and monitor the surveying works, as part of the basic analysis, on the so-called east-west corridor. |
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