Jointly organized by: THE CITY OF MECHELEN & HERITAGE CENTRE LAMOT, and THE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORY ASSOCIATION
The Organizing Committee invites proposals for papers to be presented at this International Conference to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the first commercial rail operations on the European continent, between Brussels and Mechelen, to be held in Mechelen, Belgium, from 27th to 29th May 2010.
This conference should shed light on the complex relationship between the railways, the cities and the users – consumers of this new transport mode. Railway lines structure cities and create landscape. Cities benefit from the railways, like railways benefit from the cities. Railways bring in new culture, new identities and new representations. A railway station was a new object, a new place and a new building in the city’s environment. With a railway station a city became part of a greater chain of production and consumption in a network without borders.
The need to accommodate the railway companies posed new questions to city councils, not only about the level of urbanism, but also about network building, the geography of transport and city architecture. Detailed research into the complex relations between cities and their rapidly growing hinterlands and into the transformation of cities by the early railway lines will help us to understand the potential of railway locations for our near future.
The conference welcomes papers on the first railway experiences in Belgium and in other countries, with attention to the political, geopolitical and economic context of the early and the new adaptors, and the forms of network building, organisational structure and financing of the early projects. Experiences in a transnational context – international exchange of knowledge, etc. – are highly recommended. The conference welcomes also papers on railway stations as new places in or nearby cities; the way an identity is created within that new entry into town; the user – consumer of mobility on 19th and early 20th century railways; the decline of the railway stations in the 1950s and 60s and the revival of the railway station at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century due to new investments in public transport, implementation of high speed rail, investments in city development, etc. We especially encourage transnational and comparative approaches, and welcome proposals of a more empirical nature, as well as proposals exploring theoretical or methodological issues.
The deadline for abstracts and a short CV (max one page each; Word or rich text format only) is October 15th. 2009. Please send proposals to: trein@mechelen.be. Submitters will be notified by the programme committee by January 15th 2010. Travel costs and accomodation are paid by the organisors for the conference period (27-29 May 2010). It is the intention of the organisers to publish the papers after the conference.
Scientific Committee:
Colin Divall – Institute of Railway Studies & Transport History – University of York UK; Ralf Roth – Wolfgang Goehte University Frankfurt & IRHA – Guy Vanthemsche – Vakgroep Geschiedenis Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Nico Wouters – Heritage Centre Lamot and vakgroep Geschiedenis UA – Paul Van Heesvelde International Railway History Association.
