The hyperloop concept is not new, but for many years it was hard for engineers to believe that it could be economically and technically feasible. Nowadays some technical solutions, which could enable construction and operation of a guided transport system based on hyperloop concept, are much more imaginable. Therefore a number of start-up companies are working on comprehensive proposals and chosen technologies aiming at creating the fifth transport mode thanks to innovative concepts, new technologies, and chosen railway, air transport, and space technologies. As new transport mode is expected to offer transport with high speed nearly equal to the speed of sound its feasibility will strongly depend also on coherency between transport means and transport infrastructure in a scale of a future fifth transport mode continent-wide transport network. To meet this challenge railway and start-up companies work together in two streams – in the formal framework of the European standardisation to prepare future hyperloop related EN standards and in research and development projects. The scale of required wide technical coherency on one side and the diversification of products and existence of different developers/producers/contracting entities providing infrastructure and transport means and creating market on the other side contradict if appropriate rules are not set precisely early enough. Such rules in railway transport are based on interoperability concept supported by agreed stable essential requirements and defined in the Railway Interoperability Directive and Technical Specifications for Interoperability. Paper presents findings regarding poor applicability of the railway interoperability to the hyperloop type transport systems at their early stage of development as well as challenges and proposed approaches for the dedicated hyperloop coherency approach – the hyperoperability as it is being discussed in the framework of the Hypernex European project.

Polish spatial data infrastructure dates back 2010, the year when the Spatial Information Infrastructure Act transposing INSPIRE Directive entered into force. The present study provides valuable insight into the current status of Polish spatial data infrastructure (PSDI) as well as lessons learnt from so far efforts in implementing the principles and provisions of the INSPIRE Directive. Particular respect is given to policy, interoperability of data as well as cooperation between actors involved in PSDI establishment and maintenance. Data managed by the Surveyor General (SG), perceived as a backbone of a spatial data infrastructure, are of special importance. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations for further developments are given to foster SDI implementation in Poland. Results of the analysis clearly show that Polish spatial data infrastructure is in line with INSPIRE, and in a half of way being fully operational.

Sustainability manufacturing is crucial in many aspects in terms of environmental impact. It concerns the consumption of energy, raw materials and materials, as well as the emission of harmful substances and waste. The implementation of sustainability manufacturing requires many actions at various levels, including strategic, tactical and operational ones. In order to implement measures aimed at minimizing the negative impact of the company on the environment, employees’ competencies are needed. The article presents preliminary research on key green competencies for sustainability companies. The research was carried out in the form of individual interviews with medium and large production companies. The result of the research is the division of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) into three stages of the organization’s development, indicating the key competencies for each stage of the development of sustainability management.

Due to different reasons a significant modal shift from railway to road transport took place over last decades. The basic reasons are pointed in the paper introduction together with contradicting transport policy taking into account environmental and economical challenges. Political vision to stimulate modal shift from road and air to railway cannot become true without achieving railway technical and operational interoperability. Paper describes wide range of technical barriers between individual intraoperable railway systems in civil engineering structures, traction power supply, control command and signalling and the ways, which are being applied to ensure stepwise converging of the technical solutions taking into account safety and technical compatibility, as well as other essential requirements, namely: reliability, accessibility, health and environment.