Railway in the Future Development of the Traffic System

Future development of traffic assumes its growth with increasedenergy consumption, greater environmental pollutionthrough hannful components, and noise, as well as overload oftraffic routes. The same development has been burdened by twoopposing tendencies. One is subjected to short-tenn interestsand oriented exclusively to profit, the other is a long-term careof environmental protection and energy savings which often excludesimmediate profit. Giving priority to this second tendencyis a must, and it requires joint efforts invested by scientists, trafficentrepreneurs and government institutions within legal regulations.This paper analyses the advantages of railway traffic comparedto other modes of traffic and indicates its potentials in thefuture development of traffic primarily from the aspect of environmentalprotection. The emphasis lies on the comparison ofharmful emissions and consumption of specific energy in cargotransport by railways and other traffic modes. The directives arealso given of the desirable future development of railways in orderto optimally use all its potentials.