Europe needs to invest in combined transport 27/01/25
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Europe needs to invest in combined transport
The goal is to increase the market share of rail freight transport, reduce infrastructure bottlenecks, and improve cross-border coordination between infrastructure managers.
The 5th European Intermodal Summit, organized by the International Union of Combined Transport (IRU) , brought together industry executives, representatives of the European Commission, and members of the European Parliament on January 22. It was clear that the Smart and Sustainable Transport Strategy remains the primary guiding document for European transport policy.
With capacity standards as software and TEN-T as hardware, the Commission remains committed to introducing the necessary updates to enable the development of rail freight transport and improved combined transport performance.
Throughout the session, UIRR Director General Ralf-Charley Schultze moderated a debate on the new Railway Infrastructure Capacity Management Regulation and the revision of the Combined Transport Directive.
The goal is to increase the market share of rail freight transport, reduce infrastructure bottlenecks , and improve cross-border coordination between infrastructure managers to ensure the availability of rail paths for the movement of intermodal freight trains.
In this regard, the new regulation should place greater emphasis on rail freight transport, which is increasingly suffering from a lack of cross-border coordination . This is intended to ensure more and better-quality rail links for freight trains.
Likewise, the parliamentary rapporteur for the revision of the Combined Transport Directive, Flavio Tosi, has pledged to successfully complete the third attempt, currently underway, to amend the Combined Transport Directive , given that harmonized European regulations are essential for combined transport to compete effectively with unimodal truck transport.
The European Commission's Combined Transport unit has also confirmed that work is progressing actively on implementing the Electronic Freight Information Regulation and updating the Commission's Manual on Transport Externalities .
On the other hand, the UIC-UIRR 2024 Study on Combined Transport indicates that intermodal transport has become the most dynamic system for rail freight transport. According to the study, combined transport activity will grow by more than 3% annually .
At the conference, a study on Combined Transport Efficiencies was also unveiled, quantifying the potential contribution it could make to Europe's competitiveness and resilience if it became the backbone of land freight logistics over distances of more than 300 km.
On the other hand, it has been concluded that, given the net annual savings that combined transport could bring to European economic stakeholders and public budgets, it should enjoy strong political support.
Although its resilience to shocks and timeliness still need to be improved, it remains the best opportunity for European freight logistics , which aims to transition to more sustainable, low-cost logistics.