After Rotterdam Declaration, EU rail freight signs Berlin Declaration
Following the Rotterdam Declaration signed in 2016, the European rail freight industry today signed the Berlin Declaration. This is a renewed ministerial declaration, showing the commitment of the EU Member States to support international rail...Read more
UK ends franchising passenger traffic, what does it mean for freight?
The UK government has announced this morning that it will support the passenger network for at least the next 18 months. This means that it is officially renationalising the railways, doing away with the franchising...Read more
Belarus announces border closure with Poland and Lithuania
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has announced that Belarus will close its borders with Poland and Lithuania and strengthen border controls with Ukraine. Three weeks ago he threatened to impose economic sanctions on Lithuania by diverting...Read more
Dutch railways get 1.4 billion extra for track maintenance
Over the next two years, an extra 700 million euros will be invested in the Dutch railway network. This allows infrastructure manager ProRail to solve problems on the Harbour Line, as well as the hill...Read more
Now official: track access charges may be waived during pandemic
Member States of the European Union may waive or reduce track access charges to support railway undertakings during the pandemic. The European Parliament voted in favor of this new regulation earlier today. Railway companies are...Read more
Graffiti clean up demanded by UK transport minister
UK transport minister Grant Shapps is unhappy with the defaced state of the national rail network. He has written to Andrew Haines, the managing director of Network Rail, calling for greater efforts to reduce vandalism...Read more
Antwerp: a multimodal freight village for chemical industry
The port of Antwerp should become a multimodal logistics hub with innovative rail solutions for the chemical industry. A new automated pallet loading system for trains is one such solutions. Those are the conclusions of...Read more
Network Rail wants wide-ranging changes after Stonehaven crash
The UK rail infrastructure management agency Network Rail has proposed wide-ranging changes to the way it monitors and maintains the earthworks around its tracks. This comes in the light of the fatal accident at Stonehaven...Read more
Europe waivers on access charges abolition
Access charges could be reduced or even waived across Europe, in response to the economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus crisis. Initial thinking was lukewarm to the idea, but a consensus is growing among...Read moreNew European partnership formed to follow up Shift2Rail
The European Commission is inviting private and public companies to form a European Partnership on Rail Research and Innovation, which is to succeed the current Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking. In an invitation of Expression of Interest,...Read more
Support for rail industry proving complicated and divisive
Germany, Britain and France are all finding support for their rail industries to be a complex matter. Competing interests have survived the coronavirus pandemic, and pleasing everyone is proving a headache for administrations across Europe.Read more
Joint call for reform on Europe’s Rail Freight Corridors
Two representative bodies, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), and the European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM) have put their joint weight behind a qualified endorsement of Europe’s Rail Freight Corridors. They agree...Read more
This is the modal shift potential of countries on the New Silk Road
Dutch research and consultancy firm Panteia has developed a method for calculating the modal shift potential of traffic flows between the Netherlands and Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. The conclusion: 44,500 TEUs of cargo could be...Read more
Rail Baltica could lift 5,000 trucks from Polish-Lithuania border per day
More than 5 thousand trucks per day currently cross the border between Poland and Lithuania. Imagine if this could be shifted to rail. It is an ambition al but unrealistic, as the megaproject Rail Baltica...Read more
EU supports rail in the Netherlands with 62 million
The European Commission has made available 62 million euro in subsidies for infrastructure projects in the Netherlands. Brussels is contributing 8.7 million euros to the work on the Theemsweg route in the Rotterdam port area...Read more
Belgian rail freight sector asks waiver of track access charges 2020
The Belgian Rail Freight Forum has asked its government for short-term support to get the sector through the crisis. At the peak of the pandemic, there was an average 30 per cent less demand for...Read more