Summary report on the Railway Systems conference/Intermodal Forum

At the 12^th conference SYSTEMY KOLEJOWE / FORUM INTERMODLANE in Wisła, Poland, which took place between 01 March and 03 March 2023, we deliberated on the current situation regarding domestic and global railway, and the intermodal transport market, analysed the latest trends in our field, and also addressed the developments that may soon change the rules of the game.

The conference, organised by OLTIS Polska in collaboration with První signalní and the traditional co-organisers Fundacja ProKolej and IntermodalNews, is permanently entered in the calendar of specialised meetings of consultants in the field of rail transport, and transport and logistics from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The busy program attracted 240 participants in total.

Following the opening ceremony of the conference, the presentation “Central Communication Port – vision or reality” was given by Mr. Marcel Klinowski, coordinator of activities regarding investments, member of the advisory team of the Government Commissioner for the Central Communication Port (CPK). It was followed by the debate “New directions for transport connections in Central and Eastern Europe” moderated by Dr. Jakub Majewski, Chairman of Fundacja ProKolej.

Subsequently, the discussion was divided into two parts, the first related to the railway transport – Railway Systems XII^th conference, during which the investment challenges facing railway and intermodal transport were debated and the III^rd Intermodal Forum. This meeting focused on the perspectives and tools for the development of intermodal transport as part of the green transformation of economy.

The following day, topics related to the legal and technological aspects of the transport market were presented in the railway transport block. In the intermodal block, seaports were discussed as the key links of intermodal logistics chains. In this part, the conference focused on the practical aspects of innovation and investment in railway transport and on the safety and resilience of railway systems. During debates in the intermodal part, the geopolitical and market conditions of supply chains were widely discussed, with special attention given to the one-year experience of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The conference ended with a discussion titled: “Time for new customers in Central and Eastern Europe – the potential for expansion of railway and intermodal transport”.

As every year, part of the revenue from conference fees was handed over to the Association of SOS Children’s Villages in Poland – “Sindbad”, the Family house used for temporary residence in Ustroń. Another part of the money was directed to the rehabilitation of Helenka with DDX3X syndrome, a very rare genetic disease.

We are very pleased that we are able to appraise this year’s conference “Systemy kolejowe / Forum Intermodalne” as a very successful one. It is without doubt a motivation for preparing the next follow-up.