%X Changing climate conditions demand well-aligned policies and constructive exchanges of practices between nations to enhance the climate adaptiveness of international rail corridors. Yet, in practice, these exchanges and alignments are often lacking. This thesis aims to study how national practices on climate adaptive rail networks can be translated into a transnational strategy, by examining the Dutch and German parts of the Rhine-Alpine TEN-T rail corridor. To achieve this empirical objective, it was examined how the concept of policy translation can be applied to construct a transnational strategy. Policy translation emphasizes that ideas change when they travel and, as a consequence, are differently interpretated between actors. From this understanding, a research strategy is developed that argues for performing a discourse analysis within interpretative policy analysis to identify potential synergies and conflicts upfront of a translation process. Qualitative research using semi-structured interviews and a document analysis is conducted to apply the research strategy. In the collected data, a discourse is identified in which actors primarily understand a climate adaptive rail network from its physical components. This discourse contributed to the fragmentation between physical railways and other spatial functions in climate adaptation polices. Moreover, the planning cultures of the Netherlands, Germany, and the European Commission, in a path-dependent process, further shape this fragmentation. Based on the results, six guidelines are formulated for formulating the transnational strategy: I) make use of existing collaborations, II) address the interconnectedness of the spatial and rail domain, III) apply the tangibility of objects and visual representations, IV) establish a stress test along the whole corridor, V) ensure a sufficient level of vertical integration, VI) take perception fluidity as the premise. It is recommended for future research to further examine the role physical objects play in perception-making processes and to apply these insights on the climate adaptiveness of other transport infrastructure networks.
%L theses_frw4098
%D 2022
%A Damin Booiman
%T Enhancing the Climate Adaptiveness of International Rail Corridors: Applying Policy Translation as a Concept to Formulate a Transnational Strategy