Moving forward on surface transport
Hosted in Athens, Greece, the 'Supporting the Transport Research Arena 2012 conference' (TRA2012)(opens in new window) project brought together representatives of the surface transport modes (shipping, road and rail) from industry, public authorities (national and local) and the research community. The organisation represented a major step towards establishing it as the premier high-level European transport conference. The conference contributed to innovation in sustainable mobility for Europe by bringing together all the transport system stakeholders. It gave the opportunity to the road, rail and maritime sectors to address common challenges and share knowledge in order to deliver together a greener, safer and smarter transport system. Project organisers focused on delivering an attractive programme and exhibition for the participants. The conference programme comprised five different session types, namely plenary, strategic, technical, poster and special sessions. Plenary sessions, including the opening and the closing sessions, were addressed to all conference and exhibition attendees. Speakers included personalities from Europe and worldwide who spoke about future prospects of the transport system, its role in the societies of tomorrow and the necessary steps to meet desired targets. special sessions were organised by national, European and international bodies, federations, associations, projects, initiatives, professional institutions and unions on their topics of interest. the event attracted some 1 500 participants, many of whom were new to TRA conferences. This fourth TRA provided, for the first time, an extended framework within which the present and future of all surface transport modes in Europe were discussed. policies for transport, society and industry were brought together with those for innovation, and strategies for the way forward were debated, with the aim of increasing the global competitiveness of the European transport sector.