Stakeholders get together to give priorities to Italian Transport Authority

More than forty stakeholders from the transport sector attended an event in Rome yesterday organised by the Italian Press Agency Ferpress and sponsored by Steer Davies Gleave. The event’s aim was to bring together companies, associations, operators, transport agencies, regulators and industry experts to discuss the role of a new independent Transport Regulator which will be formed by the  Italian Transport Authority in coming months.

The success of the event was due to the wide level of participation amongst the attendees who had a genuine interest in solving the problems affecting the Italian transport sector. In particular this event focused on the priorities for the rail, intermodal and local public transport sectors.

Marco Concari, Director at Steer Davies Gleave, said “We are pleased to have sponsored an event that stimulated such a high-profile debate within the industry on the role of the Italian Transport Authority, whose composition and mission is still under parliamentary discussion”.

In his speech to the attendees, Marco pointed out that: “Steer Davies Gleave believes that the creation of an fully independent Transport Regulator that covers all modes of transport is an extraordinary opportunity for Italy, not least because it will help overcome the excessive fragmentation of regulatory responsibilities among modes of transport that hinders the effectiveness of the Italian transport system. However,  as shown in several analysis we have carried on behalf of the European Commission and the European Parliament, we are also aware of the fact the authority will need to be given the right tools to work to be effective, i.e. appropriate and skilled human resources and budget, and his operation will need to be accompanied by other measures, such as a better independence of the decision making process of the different actors involved … attention should be put on the extent to an incumbent rail operator can actually influence the allocation of rail network capacity and other key decisions taken by the rail infrastructure manager”.