Location: Rotal College of Physicians of Ireland, Kildare St, Dublin 2
Event Website: http://www.ucd.ie/earth
Start Date: 24/04/2009
End Date: 24/04/2009
Prof. Eugene O'Brien, UCD School of Architecture, Landscape & Civil Engineering, 12.30 - 13.45.
The volume and mass of long distance freight in Europe is growing at a very steady rate – up to 4% per year. In ten years, the tonne-km of freight on Europe’s highways has grown by about 30%. If this growth trend continues, we will need many more highways, or we will have to accommodate a great many more trucks in our existing highways. Rail freight has been suggested as the green alternative, but volumes have barely grown in Europe in ten years. Ireland is particularly bad and our rail network has not even been electrified. Even more surprising is the lack of urgency in addressing the issue of rail electrification.
This talk will review the situation in Europe and will discuss some of the more radical solutions that are now being discussed in Brussels. A truck-only highway is being discussed in Denmark and many high-level groups are considering the concept of convoys – trucks travelli