The remarkable rise of Europe following the NapoleonicWars during the early JIY' centwy favouring the spread of therailway systems and- subsequent to this new mode of transport-leading to almost complete industrialisation and urbanisationin the political frame of nation states has suffered severe setbacksduring the 2rJ' century deplorably highlighted by WorldWar I and World War Jl, by various civil wars and the ColdWar, by lwge scale expellations, and substantial alternations ofpolitical borders. At the same time much has changed, toothroughout the extensive continental regions around Europe.Consequently, prospects for future development in the 21' centwydiffer widely. Extraordinary effort is demanded to satisfysocial expectations not known so far avoiding, howeve1~ bothnew warlike conflicts and additional exploitations of the naturalenvironment. To solve this task traffic plays a key role by optimalevaluation of all its modes and by applt:cation of the besttechnical achievements along with stepwise adaptation of theurban settlements which represent the most important locationsof living and working.

A brief hommage is rendered to Hermann Kemper (1892--1977), the inventor oft he magnetic levitation tecnique for highspeed transport

Road and rail networks in the post-Soviet space are analysedin view of the demands in transportation to be expected inthe 2 I st centwy. The road system is found te1ribly underdel'elopedin terms of density and canying capacity. It widely fails tofulfil the necessary feeder function for the rail system. Both railand road ~ystems need substantial improvements to allow forthe wgent economic recove1y of that lQige area between thosevital and dynamic regions in east (China), south (Middle East)und west (Europe).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Central Asianproducers have been actively and partly successfully looking forcompensating markets. Howeve1; the transport infrastructurewas built to se1ve interests of the Soviet state. New transportCOJTidors to the west, east and south are being constructed orplanned reducing in the long run the transport costs of CentralAsian products, which still today pw1ly use traditional and longerSoviet time outlets (pipelines, railways, ports). For both economicand geopolitical reasons Central Asian states wish tofind alternative transport routes. The EU and geopolitical rivalsof Russia, the USA and China, are helping in this, also Iran hasvested interests in the issue. Still long haulage remain a constantproblem for landlocked Central Asia and the high cost ofmany projects planned (Transcaspian or Chinese pipelines) islikely to postpone them to a distant future.

Considering the fierce debate on whether 'maglev' or'on-the-trail' system should be applied to China's first high-speed railroad, this paper makes prospects about China's high--speed railroads. As at the initial stage, careful considerationsshould be given to the framework of China's high-speed railroads.Combining China's specific national conditions, the paperdemonstrates that maglev train can be well applied in theeast and the regions of the middle and lower reaches of theYangtze River where there is developed economy, lwge anddense population, limited land use, concentrated big cities andrail transport shortage. The maglev system is the world's mostadvanced technology, China should take the best to catch upwith the world in this transportation field.

Although an 'avalanche of people' may be expected in thenear future lillie confidence seems to be justified with respect toa peaceful and prosperous development in the Near East. Politicalantagonism, often fuelled by religious intolerance threatei!Sor even pre1·ents the evaluation of promising opportunities atthis huge area between the Old World continents which couldotlwwise benefit so much from the by-passing great world trafficroutes.

A brief review is given of the current ideas about /raffle restrictionsand cost of traffic distribution systems including thecontroversy of individual and public transport under both privateand public regime.

A plea to adopt the most modem transportation techniquefor reasonable coping with the dramatically increasing trafficneeds in modern Europe and careful prese1vation of the environmentalvalues.

Traffic today is an indispensable part of our lives and oneof the basic preconditions of what is called social progress. Likeblood in our body it circulates across the whole globe and allowsfor the necessary flow of people and materials. This workconsiders the impact of traffic on the lives of people and on theenvironment, analyses the available energy sources and vehiclepropulsion systems and illustrates global climatic issues. Thepaper presents the methodology created by EU for monitoringof harmful emissions at the national/eve! and gives data on differencesin emissions of individualtransp01t modes. The trafficcondition in the Republic of Croatia is analysed and a thesis isgiven regarding possible solution of the stated problems.

The Mediterranean Countries (MC) are grouped as EuropeanUnion Countries (EUC), Former Socialist Countries(FSC), Middle East Countries (MEC) and Maghreb Countries(MAC) and their economic and population prospects are analysedwith respect to future demands on seaborne traffic, portcapacity and hinterland relations in the 21' century.