Exploring innovations at the Transport Research Arena 2016 Conference
The most important transport event on the European scale, and the programme includes four-day story about the newest trends, projects, innovations in the field of transport. It was all about how will look like roads of the future, how is changing the road infrastructure, what are the needs of the market and expextations of the investors and the biggest „mobility” challenges of tomorrow’s Europe. On 18-21 April at the National Stadium was held 6th European Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA 2016). In this international event participated Department of Research and Development of Mostostal Warszawa. Our engineers presented the technology of constructing bridges of FRP composite which was used to construct the first Polish innovative bridge made of composite in Błażowa in Podkarpacie.
At the PGE Narodowy just completed the sixth edition of the international conference Transport Research Arena 2016, which is one of the most important events of the transport industry in the European calendar. This year meeting was held under the theme: Moving Forward: Innovative Solutions for Tomorrow’s Mobility. On 18-21 April at the National Stadium in Warsaw scientists, entrepreneurs and policy makers gathered, creating an international forum for cooperation and strengthening the exchange of knowledge between world of science and business.
In the meeting participated, among others, Transport Commissioner of the European Commission Violeta Bulc, Head of the Federal Administration of Highways USA Gregory Nadeau, as well as Polish policymakers: Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Development Mateusz Morawiecki, Deputy Ministry of Development Jerzy Kwieciński and Deputy Ministers of Infrastructure and Construction Kazimierz Smolinski and Peter Stomma.
The aim of the conference is to discuss conditions for the development of all transport modes, potential of innovations and the opportunities offered, as well as the benefits of the cooperation between the private and public sector. The conference covers a broad range of the issues concering the transport infrastructure, mobility, road vehicles, road construction, as well as sustainable development policy. In the course of each session are presented the latest technologies, results of research in the field of infrastructure and transport, as well as the experience from the implementation of innovative projects. This year, for the first time logistics-related topics were discussed also.
- Road construction is very challenging for us. Societies are becoming more mobile, and as a result grows the role of transport as well as technical requirements for the applied technological solutions. The road infrastructure in Poland will be developing fast in the coming years and we want to have an impact on the direction in which the market will tend to. Mostostal Warszawa closely follows-up the situation, but as an innovative company we also challenge the industry. Our strength lies in years of research and development activities and our latest innovative project - the composite bridge, which we built in Podkarpacie – is a proof that this effort was not wasted. And we could show it to both the international and national experts community during a key transport conference – said Andrzej Goławski, President of the Management Board of Mostostal Warszawa.
The event was accompanied by fair which attended exhibitors from around the world and which encouraged scientific and business talks. Public and private institutions, research institutes, research units and enterprises presented their achievements and activities in the various thematic areas of the conference. Engineers of Research and Development Department in Mostostal Warszawa, Lech Własak, Juliusz Żach and Piotr Świeżewski shared their expert knowledge in the field of road innovation. Participants of the conference could talk to them, among others, on the use of composite materials in the construction of bridges. We presented also a prototype beam of glass-carbon fiber, which was used as a raw material in the construction of the first Polish bridge made of composites.
- In the Polish road construction composite materials are not applied on a large scale. Similar to the world a dominant building material of objects such as road bridges is steel. However, the carbon-glass composite, which we used for the production of structural beams of the bridge in Błażowa has much better properties than traditional materials. It is durable, lightweight, more resistant to corrosion, and thus on the longterm basis costs of maintenance are lower. In addition, ready-made elements are easy and quick to install. We would not be able to realize this project, if not for our cooperation with scientific institutions. In the case of innovative projects there is necessary to synchronize the work of two different worlds and have the right skills to make a product ready for use, starting from the idea over laboratory tests to implement it finally into practice – said Juliusz Żach, Head of Research and Development Department Mostostal Warszawa.
TRA Conference is held every two years by the European Commission in cooperation with the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) and the European Technology Platforms (including ERTRAC *, ERRAC **, WATEBORNE TP and ALICE***). Every year the conference gathers a group of specialist of more than 2 000 people. The Forum of European Road Research Institutes (FERHL) provides a substantive support to the event. For the organization of this year's meeting was responsible Research Institute of Roads and Bridges in Warsaw in cooperation with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Construction.
*ERTRAC – European Road Transport Research Advisory Council
**ERRAC – EuropeanRoad Railway ResearchAdvisory Council
***ALICE – Alliance for Logistics Innovations through Collaboration