COMMUNICATING THE DIFFERENCES: THE CONTRIBUTION OF NEW MARKET ENTRANTS TO MODERN REGIONAL RAILWAY OPERATIONS

Transcription

1 UIC / CER / EIM - Annual meeting of Communications Directors Zagreb, Croatia October 2008 COMMUNICATING THE DIFFERENCES: THE CONTRIBUTION OF NEW MARKET ENTRANTS TO MODERN REGIONAL RAILWAY OPERATIONS Michel QUIDORT Director of External Relations, Member of the Regional and Suburban Railways Committee,

2 Contents Regional and suburban railways: essential players New services and customer orientation Rail operations: light and flexible Management: decentralized and multi-skilled Training for quality Vehicles: new generation Infrastructure: room for improvements Conclusion

3 Regional and suburban railways: essential players 220 companies in the European Union 7 billion passengers carried yearly 90% of the total rail passengers Turnover: 25 billion (= GDP of Luxemburg) employees units (ERRAC / UITP survey, October 2006)

4 Rail operations: new services and customer orientation (1) Services on board - Catering - Music / news - Dedicated staff on board and in stations - Ticketing - Accessibility Staff on board, NordWestBahn (Germany)

5 Catering on board Lausitzbahn system, Saxony (Germany)

6 Dedicated staff on board and in stations Leslys, Lyons (France) BOB train, Bavaria (Germany) Commuter trains system, Melbourne (Australia)

7 Ticketing on board Lausitzbahn system (Germany)

8 Accessibility Melbourne commuter train system (Australia)

9 Rail operations: new services and customer orientation (2) Associated services - Train + taxi / Train + bus - Bike and ride - Packages - Partnerships

10 Train + bus WEG system, Stuttgart region (Germany)

11 Bike and ride Traveling with bike Bicycle boxes at Mettmann Stadtwald, RBE system (Germany)

12 Packages

13 Partnerships HarzElbeExpress advertising for Thale city (Germany)

14 Partnerships NordWestBahn system (Germany)

15 Rail operations: light and flexible (1) New station concept - Regional new approach Burbank station, California (USA) - Suburban convenience stations WEG station, Stuttgart region (Germany)

16 New station concept Railway station, Mettmann Stadtwald, RBE system (Düsseldorf), 1992 Railway station, Mettmann Stadtwald, RBE system (Düsseldorf), 2002

17 Convenience station Gillingham station, South East London (United Kingdom)

18 Rail operation: light and flexible (2) Maintenance - A workshop for every region or operation - A standardized approach NordWestBahn workshop (Germany) WEG workshop, Stuttgart region (Germany) RBE workshop, Düsseldorf region (Germany)

19 Rail operations: light and flexible (3) RBE control room, Düsseldorf (Germany) Control rooms - Lean organization - For each operation NEB control room, Berlin (Germany) NordWestBahn control room (Germany)

20 Rail operations: light and flexible (4) Mixed operations urban / regional Tram + train RBS Berne (Switzerland) Leslys line, Lyons (France)

21 Management: decentralized and multi-skilled (1) Regional management - Direct influence on all resources and all business processes - Direct control of contract performance with PTA - Direct contact with the passengers - Direct responsibility of the regional management for financial results An operation built from scratch on a need-to-have basis tends to be leaner than an inherited organization

22 Management: decentralized and multi-skilled (2) New entrants are often more efficient due their small-enterprise-like organization

23 Management: decentralized and multi-skilled (3) Local and regional managers know the real market Business to be organized in manageable units ( employees max.): small is efficient! Management to be empowered to choose the right combination of resources

24 Management: decentralized and multi-skilled (4) Every driver, every service agent should know his superior Feed back from the operation and the market Reactivity Multi-skilled staff - To improve company s efficiency - To bring more knowledge and interest to company s activity CFTA Brittany (France)

25 Training for quality New entrants to develop their own training centres New approach + independency Training essential for: - Safety - Service quality - Input on rail market share Driving simulator at Campus Veolia (France) Training to benefit from other service industries Partnerships to be developed (ex.: DB Ausbildung )

26 Vehicles: new generation (1) New rolling stock designed for regional operations Passengers and operators requirements Influence of urban rail on regional trains design Market to influence rolling stock standardization - Role of rolling stock leasing companies - Second hand market to appear - Benchmarking and exchange of good practices Imported solutions

27 Vehicles: new generation (2) Bombardier Desiro, Siemens Lint, Alstom Talent, Bombardier

28 Infrastructure: room for improvements (1) Infrastructure access fees: 50% of TOCs costs RBE system, Düsseldorf (Germany) Level and structure of infrastructure charging not to impede the development of regional services Quality of infrastructure: essential United Kingdom Incentive mechanisms to encourage IMCs to deliver good services

29 Infrastructure: room for improvements (2) Regional authorities to get more involved with infrastructure issues: financing, management, design, tendering Modern rail infrastructure to provide competitive services and achieve modal shift NEB infrastructure, Berlin region (Germany)

30 Infrastructure financing Construction costs of a regional rail station (platform length: 100 meters)

31 Infrastructure: to develop ridership Okt Feb Aug Nov Nov nov/ 2003 nov/ 2004 DB AG 1 train / hour Patronage increase REGIOBAHN 1 train / hour Daily journeys REGIOBAHN 1 train every 20 min

32 Conclusion Regional authorities to get more and more involved with regional and suburban rail services Strong expectations from authorities and population on transport integration Service quality on top of the agenda Train operating companies to be firmly rooted locally to be successful

33 Thank you for your attention!