Rail transport of road semi-trailers in the Czech Republic breaks records 24/03/25

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Source: https://www.cdv.cz/tisk/zeleznicni-preprava-silnicnich-navesu-v-cr-lame-rekordy-kombinovana-doprava-jako-jedina-roste-na-klesajicim-trhu/

(original article in Czech)

 

Press release

Brno, March 24, 2025


In the Czech Republic, a record number of 54,525 loaded road semi-trailers were transported by rail in 2023. The entire segment of so-called unaccompanied continental combined transport reached record values. The aggregate transport performance of road semi-trailers and swap bodies was 344 million tonne-kilometres (tkm). However, the total performance of goods transport by rail has been declining slightly in the last decade. In the recent period between 2022 and 2023, there was even a higher decline of approximately 8% tkm in the Czech Republic and similarly for the entire European market. Combined road-rail transport appears to be the only growth segment of rail freight transport, despite a partial decline in sea containers in 2023.


The German consulting company SCI Verkehr predicts further growth of the European combined transport market by rail until 2040. Higher growth is expected in the transport performance of continental combined transport, namely by 3.7% per year, while maritime combined transport should grow by 2.8%. A 25% share of continental combined transport in total combined transport performance is expected in 2040.

This segment is supported in the Czech Republic mainly through the Transport operational programme, for example, call no. 35 is currently announced to support the development of railway sidings. The main and updated source of information on combined transport is the web portal kombinovanapreprava.cz , which will be further developed and expanded to include a transport emission intensity calculator during this year.

Situation in the Czech Republic

Greater involvement of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly rail freight transport has long been one of the goals of strategic and conceptual documents.

In this context, some data from the latest Transport Yearbook 2023 are therefore positive news. A record number of 54,525 loaded road semi-trailers and trailers were transported by rail, and only another 100 were transported empty for operational reasons. These data also illustrate the advantages of combined transport in terms of the possibilities of reusing transport vehicles, with a positive impact on the effective use of railway infrastructure capacity. The total transport performance in this segment was approximately 300 million tkm.

The transport of swap bodies by rail has seen a return to better values ​​after a significant decline in the previous years of 2021 and 2022, although this technology is used to a lesser extent than intermodal road semi-trailers. 9,006 of them were transported with a transport capacity of approximately 44 million tkm.

Overall, a 12% share of continental combined transport in total combined transport performance on the railway was achieved, which is the highest share in the Czech Republic historically.

The most successful segment of combined transport using rail transport remains the so-called large or maritime ISO containers with a number of 729,047 loaded containers and a total transport capacity of 2,521 million tkm. Despite this, a relatively significant decline in container transport was recorded in 2023.

According to Libor Krejčí from the Transport Research Center, vvi , "2023 was marked by complications in the logistics of sea containers. This understandably caused delays and a shortage of containers due to operational abnormalities. In contrast, the increase in road intermodal semi-trailers in particular is due to the development of terminals and train lines. This method of solving logistics needs is more competitive in terms of price and quality of service compared to direct road transport . "

However, overall rail transport performance is rather stagnant or even declining. In the recent period between 2022 and 2023, there was even a higher decrease of approximately 8% tkm and reached 15,038 million tkm, which is primarily due to external influences caused by the overall change in the structure of demand for freight transport.

Situation in Europe

The current development is presented by the International Union of Railways (UIC) and the International Union for Combined Road-Rail Transport (UIRR) in the report on combined transport in Europe for 2024. Total transport performance on the road has been growing, while on the rail it has basically stagnated in the last decade, and even decreased by 8.1% between 2018 and 2023. This trend is offset by the long-term increasing performance in combined transport, which increased by 8.7% tkm in the same five-year period.

"A positive European growth trend in rail transport of seagoing ISO containers of 20 feet and more is visible. Already today, on many routes, the alternative solution to transporting containers by road is only supplementary. An even higher growth rate has been achieved in continental combined transport, carried out mainly by intermodal road semi-trailers. In this segment, there is significant room for transferring another part of transport from road to rail ," adds Libor Krejčí.

The forecast for the development of combined transport is also optimistic. The German consulting company SCI Verkehr, which prepared the aforementioned report on combined transport in Europe for 2024, expects further growth in transport performance carried out by combined transport. Continental combined transport should grow faster than the overall market and by 2040 transport performance should almost double. Higher growth is expected in the transport performance of continental combined transport, namely by 3.7% per year, while maritime combined transport should grow by 2.8%. A 25% share of continental combined transport in the total combined transport performance is expected in 2040.

Current support for combined transport in the Czech Republic

 

"The Ministry of Transport has long supported railway and, by extension, combined transport, especially through the Transport operational program. For example, call no. 35 has currently been announced to support the development of railway sidings. The call is round-robin and will be open to applicants until June 30, 2025," says Lukáš Soukup from the Ministry of Transport.

In addition to investments in infrastructure in the form of development and equipment of combined transport terminals and capacity expansion of main corridors, it is also important to inform various interested parties and users of combined transport. The Transport Research Center, with the support of the Ministry of Transport, has therefore created the web portal kombinovanapreprava.cz. It contains an electronic educational program (e-learning), which is specifically prepared for road hauliers, forwarders and freight forwarders, consignors and recipients, as well as public administration and students. This year, it will be further expanded to include a transport emission intensity calculator in accordance with the unified methodology for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport services.

"Although the recent period in the Czech Republic has been successful in terms of the transport of road semi-trailers by rail, there is room for further growth. The best way is to provide easily accessible and correct information about all aspects, advantages and limitations of combined transport for all participants in the transport chain. We will therefore continue to work on the development of the web portal kombinovanapreprava.cz," concludes Libor Krejčí.


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