It is our pleasure to invite you to the fourth European Transport Research Arena, TRA 2012. TRA is not just a conference but an arena which aims at bringing together European stakeholders from all areas of transport and transport-related activities.

The Transport Research Arena (TRA) 2012, which is due to be held in Athens in 2012, will enable the exchange of knowledge among those who play an active role in the transport sector and to promote the dissemination of research findings, best practice, and application techniques that have been successfully implemented in some parts of the world. At the same time, it provides experts from different disciplines with a forum for creative discussions about the future of transport at a location where Greek philosophers debated the burning issues of the day some 25 centuries ago.

TRA 2012 will focus on all aspects of all surface transport modes with the exception of overseas shipping. TRA 2012 seeks to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the transport sector and, for this reason, addresses all stakeholders in both the public and private sectors and all professionals, regardless of their roles (researchers, practitioners, designers, constructors, operators, administrators etc.).

The main theme of TRA 2012 is Sustainable mobility through innovation.

The sustainable mobility of passengers and goods, in towns, in our regions and countries throughout the continent and beyond, needs an efficient and reliable European transport system.

Innovation is essential for this. As stated in the White Paper "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system" presented by the European Commission in 2011, EU research needs to address the full cycle of research, innovation and deployment in an integrated way by focusing on the most promising technologies and bringing together all the actors involved. Innovation can also play a role in promoting more sustainable behaviour.

TRA 2012 in Athens will have a new dimension. The opportunity is to create a truly European transport research and innovation arena where innovative technologies of tomorrow are presented and discussed with the aim of achieving the goals of the European transport policy.

We are sure that you will be inspired by the presentation of advanced European Transport research as well as by the demonstrations of cutting-edge technologies that hold the promise to improve the mobility of passengers and goods.

The six Pillars of the Conference are:

To achieve its goals, TRA 2012 is organised into 5 different session types:

Furthermore, TRA 2012 will repeat the successful young researchers’ competition, the well-known YEAR (Young European Arena of Research). The purpose of this competition is to motivate and encourage young researchers from all European states by providing them a European platform for their ideas and research work for the benefit of greener, safer, and smarter surface transport for Europe.