Faith in the EU’s rail freight goals is at an all-time low
Author: Marco Raimondi
04.09.2025 | Europe has been saying it wants to significantly increase the modal shift of rail freight to decarbonise its supply chain. However, reaching these goals in practice is much harder than stating them on paper, as this modality is actually losing volumes. A new survey conducted among German and Austrian industry players revealed that faith in these goals remains significantly low.
The survey was carried out by VCO, an Austrian mobility and transport organisation which cooperates with Transport & Environment. Participants spanned from rail freight companies to public institutions and universities across Austria and Germany. When asked about the possibility of achieving a rail freight modal share between 34 and 40% by 2030, a vast majority took a pessimistic stance.
‘Unrealistic’ for over three quarters of respondents
Out of the 259 respondents, 55% consider it unrealistic, with an additional 22% claiming it is very unrealistic. Only 19% of them believe that reaching these objectives is a realistic option, while a mere 2% claimed it is very realistic. Almost all respondents (93%) agreed that more measures should be taken to boost rail freight, highlighting a general feeling of helplessness across the sector.
The few who said that no additional measure is needed, still pointed out that the current ones need to be implemented more consistently. Others added that, rather than measures promoting rail, the focus should be on improving competition with road freight. In other words, a few respondents think that transport by truck should be made less attractive. Moreover, the decarbonisation of road freight, for example with electric trucks, might continue to keep rail freight as the more unattractive option.
Why is it declining?
But what is causing this imbalance between road and rail freight? According to the survey, the lack of cost transparency in the road sector is the main reason, as 85% of respondents said. This segment, they argued, benefits from tax breaks for diesel and low tolls. Additionally, it is much easier to re-route a truck than it is a train in case of disruptions. Lack of flexibility, long transit times and insufficient infrastructure capacity were also mentioned as important factors for the struggles of rail freight.
Greening Freight Package
One of the main EU tools to boost rail freight could be the Greening Freight Package, a group of measures including the Combined Transport Directive, the Capacity Management Regulation and the Weight and Dimension Directive. The VCO survey presented a very fragmented outlook on the Package and its components.
Concerning the Combined Transport Directive, 71 experts cited opportunities, while 48 underlined its risks. For the Capacity Management Regulation, 69 focussed on the positives and 57 on the negatives. Regarding the Weights and Dimensions Directive, arguably the most controversial piece of the Greening Freight Package, more people stressed the risks (55) than the positives (49).