Now for the third time in a row, Deutsche Bahn AG is proud to take part in the "1520 Strategic Partnership" International Railway Forum as an official international partner. We are proud because we feel a great bond to the railways in the 1520-mm region based on the long and multi-faceted history of cooperation among our railways.

This is reflected even today in Deutsche Bahn’s daily cooperation with railways in the 1520-mm area: we overcome differences in technology and administration on a daily basis in our joint work. In specific projects we always develop new solutions to interlink both systems more efficiently. The results are clear: innovation and business success.

For this reason the theme of this year’s forum strikes a particular note with me: the success and future viability of rail as a mode of transportation depends on how the railways of the 1435 and 1520 areas integrate into global trade flows – and how they do so together.

Rail’s greatest strength lies in traffic over long distances. In times of the global flow of goods, rail once again has the opportunity to prove its ability to compete with other modes of transportation. In traffic between Asia and Europe, rail is in a position to offer the potentially decisive competitive advantage in economic terms. The cost of transportation between Europe and Asia is practically the same for rail and for ocean freight, but rail is considerably faster. In addition to this head start which can also easily been turned into a financial advantage, rail’s strengths vis-à-vis ocean freight lie in environmental friendliness, reliability and efficiency – and precisely herein lies our opportunity for rail as the mode of transportation of the future!

This also means that we are taking up the challenges of a future in which we re-write the role of rail in the modal split. This will take the courage to set a new course, including one extending beyond rail. Intermodal concepts and solutions are needed in order to ensure rail-based transportation remains viable in the future. Increasingly complex mobility and logistics chains require new forms of cooperation between railways and also among the other modes of transportation to make rail as accessible as possible.

This makes all the more important the task of overcoming history-related rail-gauge differences as quickly and as efficiently as possible using innovative ideas and technologies.

Let us work together here so that our vision of a transeurasian railway network will soon become reality and normality. I am convinced that this year’s forum on integrating the two gauges will make a great contribution towards this goal.

Sincerely,

Chairman of the Management Board and CEO, Deutsche Bahn AG,
Dr. Rüdiger Grube