ETC 2025 - RPP Call for Papers

The Programme Committee invites you to submit abstracts of relevance to the following themes but will also consider abstracts on rail topics of your choice/current work which are interesting for an international audience.

Rail and travel patterns in an era of change; are we still on ‘climate change’ track? 

• Rail transport patterns in the future in view of a range of challenges, e.g.  beyond COVID-19, online-shopping, teleworking and less commuting, low cost air.
• Overcoming stagnating rail share in Europe: more European tourism on rail instead of worldwide air travel? Regional leisure trips on the weekend by rail instead of car use? 
• How to encourge greater use of rail for cross-border journeys? 
• Electric mobility: is rail losing its leading role given lower expenses for e-mobility by car? What about the role of required space for transport infrastructure?

Innovations targeting customers’ perspective

• Passenger information, ticketing and passengers’ rights for the seamless (international) journey.
• Crowding and wayfinding at station/platform.
• Mind the traveller: is the existing framework good to avoid service disruptions in the next crisis? 
• Enhancing competition in regional and long-distance rail: do forget about the customers. 
• What about multimodality? Which role for rail in a seamless travel chain?

Policy focus

• How cross-border rail friendly is European Policy (e.g. TEN-T revision 2024, EC 2021 Action Plan on cross-border long-distance rail, ticketing, fare recognition)?
• Rail strategies and reforms: which strategies for Eastern Europe and overall? Back to nationalisation (e.g. UK)? Liberalisation gone?
• Devolution in decision making: how do national, regional and local governance structures best interact?
• Subsidy gap versus attractive (low price) ticketing:  what measures, particularly in terms of service changes and ticket pricing, are companies using to address this?  How can low cost national/regional ticketing such as Deutschland-Ticket or KlimaTicket have positive impact on wider fares and ticketing policies, rail demand and funding? 
• Sticks and carrots of decarbonisation: which investments are necessary to boost passenger and freight on rail and what is the best mix, also in terms of road decarbonisation and fuel taxation?

Innovation in planning and efficient operations

• Long-distance rail: is high speed rail still the sole solution? What about “retrofitted” conventional rail and night trains? 
• Which framework is fair for long-distance rail operations and how to guarantee seamless ticketing and operation for the entire journey? 
• Alternative fuels for trains: lessons learned in Europe from battery powered trains or other alternative fuels on operating costs and the environment?
• AI and rail? How is rail positioned to take advantage of the new technology?

Important notice:
Each year we receive more abstracts than can be accommodated in the programme. If your abstract is selected, please be aware that others have been rejected, that the ETC organisation has invested time in devising an attractive and coherent programme and that delegates use this programme to decide to come to the conference. 

Before submitting your abstract, please make sure at least one of the authors can attend the conference to present the paper or poster, that finances are available for conference fee, travel and accommodation costs and that you have received / will obtain the approval needed (from management or client) to present the work in public at the time of the conference. If your paper is accepted, you will be required to book and pay for the conference by the end of June.

We do understand that sometimes circumstances can force authors to withdraw. If so, you would help us by informing us as soon as possible. Last minute withdrawals or no-shows negatively affect the conference experience of your fellow transport professionals.