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Victoria Mindova

Freight transport, optimizing the operation and use og the full capacity of existing infrastructure are the basis for the reorganization of the state railways, according to the President of TRENOSE Anastasios Ziliaskopoulos. He spoke at the 14th forum dedicated to logistics in the Mediterranean region, and outlined the main objectives of the new management. The new management of TREYOSE has the difficult task to rehabilitate the state enterprise and turn it from a black hole for taxpayers' money into a successful and financially profitable venture.

Anastasios Ziliaskopoulos said they had begun to make small steps towards the modernization of railways, and since May, 2010, whenhe assumed his duties reservation by phone was introduced. "Until then, if you wanted to buy a ticket, you had to go to the station. Reservations by phone are the first step by the end of the year we will also launch the web tickets".

"With the new law on rehabilitation of the railways we are oriented to the client, and we will give particular importance to freight transport. This is the only way to keep the company strong, "depending Ziliaskopoulos. He explained that 2009 was exceptionally difficult for the company and did not hide the fact that any other organization in the private sector with such a deficit as the State Railways, would have gone bankrupt years ago. The company survived until today because the taxpayer were flowing money into it, said the president and stressed that there is no way for this to continue. "The company will become Anastasios Ziliakopoulos sustainable only if it can offer services that are competitive."

The real estate company is one of its biggest assets that still remain unused. These include freight centers built over the years that remain unused due to poor management. Currently 90% of services in the transportation of goods by the railways pass through Thessaloniki. "The volume is not large, but there is the opportunity to expand, by improving the existing system". The first goal in this direction is to improve service quality and reduce the price, which in turn will increase the volume, explained the president. It takes a unified strategy that is consistent both with the existing infrastructure, but also with the market requirements. "We can not expect that just because we have built warehouses in a given area, the customer will want to use them," said Ziliaskopoulos.

At the logistics conference spoke also the representative of the Association of Transport Engineers Loucas Dimitriou, who welcomed the initiatives of the new management of TRENOSE. The recommendation he gave, was related with the program for utilization of the property. "Government organizations have not currently shown to be particularly effective in the management of large property they own," said Dimitriou. Therefore, the Association of Transport Engineers believes it to be necessary, for the public entity to seek the help of private companies in the real estate to make an assessment and analysis of the assets of the organization to achieve faster results.

The financially bankrupt lines should also be suspended, according to the specialist, in order for the entity to focus on the mid-term plan of the company for the construction of an effective railway network linking Europe with Asia and the Black Sea. "We believe it to be necessary the preparation of a specific business plan for TRENOSE which should be followed in coming years." Loucas Dimitriou stressed that the changes in the state company should not be taken into account solely on the basis of the obligations listed in the Memorandum of financial aid, but also according to the possibilities of development by areas.

The manager and CEO of N-topos Grigoris Lambrou spoke about the importance of technology in logistics, communications and commercial transport. His company develops, builds and implements software products for management and control of transport services. Clients of N-topos are companies like Greek Post, the Athens tram, Athens International Airport and others. For the new metropolitan tram, which was set in motion before the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, N-topos have developed a special program for 24 months. It has a high-tech navigation and control system, which was worth 8.5 million euros, but provides the highest level of security and efficiency in the field.

Even more exciting sounds the system, which N-topos have invented to control and inform in real-time of the traffic in Athens International Airport Elevteros Venizelos. All systems designed and installed by N-topos, including those inside the vehicles such as buses, smart bus stops and mobile terminals and more are connected and communicate with central server in each second, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Integrating all these systems ensure that all necessary information for monitoring of the airport is transmitted in real time via GPS.

Under the supervision of web-based operational control center and with 18 sub-centers in the country, the management of the Greek Posts monitors, manages and coordinates all of its vehicles and supplies. The system is also designed by N-topos, which have designed, installed and maintain the program that works like the brain of the Post and provides real-time information about the exact location of shipments, as well as of the 750 cars traveling to 6500 points of distribution in the country. Information on the location of shipments is updated every 60 seconds.