Europejski transport kombinowany pozostaje w trybie „poczekamy, zobaczymy”
Author: Łukasz Kuś
02.03.2026 | The combined transport industry in Europe saw a slight deterioration in its performance in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the International Union of Combined Road-Rail Transport. The performance of intermodal transport was weaker than the European economy last year.
In the last three months of last year, the results of the combined transport industry, measured by the quarterly UIRR index, were 0.22% worse than in the last quarter of 2024. At the same time, the sentiment index in the industry remained stable, indicating the expected stagnation.
“Given the unstable global trade outlook and weak economic performance, as well as ongoing rail infrastructure challenges, the UIRR Public Sentiment Index for Rail Infrastructure remains ‘Neutral’ for the next 12 months. Without better infrastructure forecasting and planning, and amid political uncertainty, the European rail infrastructure community remains in a ‘wait and see’ mode,” commented Ralf-Charley Schultze, CEO of UIRR.
Infrastructure problems
The industry's weaker performance was primarily due to chaos in rail infrastructure. Prolonged and uncoordinated track closures resulted in a decline in throughput, preventing intermodal transport from capitalizing on the slight recovery in the EU economy observed at the end of last year. Difficult weather conditions also posed a challenge, destabilizing the transport system.
Industry representatives are calling for better coordination between member states in designating detours, taking into account the needs of intermodal transport. An amendment to the Capacity Management Directive, currently under discussion at the EU level, may provide an opportunity for this. However, the future of the proposed amendment to the Rail Transport Directive remains unclear. The Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council has not included this legislative proposal in its program, but Cypriot Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades assured that the topic will be discussed in a Council working group.