London one of the EU’s worst cities for clean and safe transport, says study

A recent report, commissioned by Greenpeace and completed by Wuppertal Institute, Germany, has ranked London as the third worst city after analysing road safety, air pollution and transport cost.

After investigating 13 EU cities, only Moscow and Rome had scores worse than London, with the English capital revealed to be the second most unsafe city to walk or cycle in, with 22.3 accidents per 1,000,000 bike trips.

In a more positive light, London scored second best in ‘mobility management’, which considered low-emission zones, transport apps and car-sharing schemes.

Recently, Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has discussed the potential implementation of car-free days within the capital and plans to charge the most polluting vehicles more with ultra-low emissions zones. The UK government has also published a new clean air strategy, which claims to reduce the health costs of pollution to society by approximately £1 billion per year by 2020.

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National Strategic Transport Plan in course of implementation from the Greek Ministry

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is already processing the National Strategic Transport Plan of Greece which is a project funded by Community resources and it is implemented under the financial management of the European Investment Bank. It is expected to be completed by March 2017.

The National Strategic Transport Plan refers to the analysis of the entire transport sector (road, rail, air and maritime transportation) through the collection of the appropriate data taking into account environmental and social-politic factors. In addition, it includes the development of the necessary supportive tools for planning and decision making (traffic system models, cost-benefit analysis model and web database). The National Transport Plan will facilitate the definition and will set the grounds for future policies and investments in the transport sector.

National Strategic Transport Plan information can be found here and here

Suburban Railway of Athens: First studies on the extensions to the city of Lavrio and Rafina

By a letter from the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Infrastructure to OSE, ERGOSE and EYDE / KESP PE & BE, ​​a committee of nine members was asked to complete the rigorous procedures for the extension of the Suburban Railway to Lavrio (Koropi-Lavrion) and Rafina (Airport-Rafina).

From the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport document, which appears to be definitively blocked, is that Rafina will be connected by rail to the airport and is an easier technical project with fewer expropriations and will cover the areas of Spata, Porto-Rafti, reaching the harbor of Rafina, which this year is expected to exceed 2 million passengers.

But we are talking about projects that take time in front of them to mature, and at best, even if they find funding sources, they are unlikely to start before 2020.

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Slovenj Gradec wins Slovenian mobility award

The municipality of Slovenj Gradec in northern Slovenia has won the 2016 European Mobility Week award for its work on transforming areas with traffic into areas for pedestrians and cyclists, and for actively involving citizens in these activities to help improve their quality of life.