Chamber of Engineers recommend ‘surface railway system’ in south/central areas

Chamber of Engineers holds 23rd Annual Engineering Conference on energy and transport

The Chamber of Engineers recommended the introduction of a surface railway system that would cover the south/central areas of the island where the major industrial and commercial activity takes place, during its 23rd Annual Engineering Conference. The topic of  this year’s conference was Energy and Transport: Challenges and Opportunities.

During his address, Chamber of Engineers President Norman Zammit first referred to transport, stating that through the Sustainable Development Policy, the government and private sector should work together to provide Smart Travelling.

“This is reflected in the need to provide efficient, modern travel that is also socially and environmentally aware,” he said.

“The strategy should seek to not only establish good highway engineering and access designs to the island but also to demonstrate state-of-the-art sustainable travel opportunities.”

“This means effective management of access and mobility that provides road users with a choice of access modes, infrastructure that makes access hassle free and resulting environment that is pleasant to live and work in.”

Zammit said that such a move would also require the commitment of the government to ensure that adequate public transport opportunities are available and that innovative technologies are exploited to maximize take-up.

Zammit also spoke about energy, specifically about past proposals for the installation of a gas pipeline between Malta and Sicily.

“Sicily has a large number of gas reserves which can be exploited and this would allow Malta to shift away from heavy fuel oil,” he said, noting that the gas pipeline initiative is once again underway.

Zammit added that a shift to natural gas should not be the only solution to our energy problems.

“In Malta we are focusing primarily on photovoltaics, since the wind farm option was shelved due to environmental impact.”

He suggested that the country needs to look further into the exploitation of our surrounding seas through the use of surface wave generators and undersea water turbines that use seawater currents.

Addressing the audience, Minister for Transport and the Infrastructure Joe Mizzi, emphasized that the engineering community has a fundamental contribution to give in these sectors through expert advice, research and development initiatives as well as the application of modern engineering solutions to classical problems.

“There will be instances where the ingenuity of engineers shall be looked upon to bring about change that would be beneficial to the economy,” Mizzi said.

The conference covered diverse topics by a number of speakers from both the private and public sector. Speakers included Matthew Clarke, IET Automotive and Road Transport Systems Technical and Professional Network (ARTS TPN), Atkins Transportation, who discussed Planning for Driverless Vehicles and Adrian Muscat and Maria Attard, University of Malta, who covered Intelligent Transport Systems: Potential for Technological Innovation and Policy Support. Joseph Vassallo from Enemalta plc discussed the Malta-Sicily Interconnector, Fulcieri Maltini, FM Consultants Associates covered Climate Change and the Evaluation of Innovative Technologies for Energy Production, and Stephen Sammut and Patrick Attard, MCAST, who discussed the Deployment of an Offshore Photo-Voltaic System.

The conference was sponsored by Bank of Valletta, Citadel Insurance plc, Methode Electronics Malta Ltd, Electrofix, and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology. It was also supported by the IEEE Malta Section, The Malta Group of Professional Engineering Institutions, Toyota, Enemalta plc and ESI