A decade further and still the same obstacles
The Rail Freight Forward initiative and European legislative framework could offer lessons to help railways and decision-makers around the world achieve the climate change targets agreed at the recent COP24 summit in Katowice, believes Jürgen...Read more
The Netherlands and Germany to test cross-border self-driving trains
The Netherlands and Germany are going to work together to create more attractive conditions for cross-border rail freight transport. Dutch State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven (Infrastructure and Water) and her German colleague State Secretary Enak...Read more
Noise differentiated track access charges under review
The effect of noise differentiated track access charges (NDTAC) in Europe is under review. Since 2015, it is legally possible for infrastructure managers to include a malus or bonus in the track access charge for...Read more
Mexican Anti-Trust report has no impact on KCS
Kansas City Southern (KCS) has claimed to be outside the scope of a preliminary report of the Mexican Anti-Trust Authority Cofece, analysing market competition in the State of Veracruz (southern Mexico). This report was released...Read more
Swiss Alps still see 300,000 trucks too many
Two years after the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016 the number of trucks passing through the Swiss Alpine structure should have been less than 650 thousand per year. This was the ambition...Read more
Road and rail work together on liability of combined transport
Two large interest groups representing the rail and road sector respectively have joined hands to form a legal basis for combined transport. The International Railway Committee (CIT) and International Road Transport Union (IRU) want to...Read more
Russia and Austria cooperate on railway digitalisation
Rail Cargo Group (RCG) and Digital Logistics, a joint venture of Russian Railways (RZD) and INTELLEX, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote standardisation and digitalisation of operational processes across Europe’s borders. This should enable...Read more
The Netherlands at the forefront in reducing noise pollution
The Netherlands is at the forefront in reducing noise pollution caused by rail freight traffic. This is because it is a densely populated country where many people drive close to the track. Currently, more than...Read more
Next step toward paperless freight traffic Europe
A next step towards paperless rail freight transport in Europe has been taken. On 12 March, the European Parliament proposed a new regulation for the digitalisation of electronic freight transport information. In simpler terms, this...Read more
Requesting terminal and train path capacity in one single procedure
Terminal capacity in Europe is requested after a train path is allocated, while terminal access is often the bottleneck in the transport chain. An integrated offer requesting capacity on both should make rail freight more...Read more
How to turn rail freight into a profitable business?
How to turn rail freight into a profitable business? What is needed to attract new entrants and more competition in the rail freight market? These are the central topics to be raised at the annual...Read more
CER: ‘EU will be a patchwork of regulatory frameworks’
Nine member states will transpose the 4th Railway Package’s Technical Pillar into national law on 16 June 2019. However, 17 countries have opted for a transition period until June 2020. As a consequence, there will...Read more
‘European Commission safeguarded competitive pricing of rail’
By blocking the merger of two railway giants Siemens and Alstom, the European Commission has safeguarded the increasingly competitive pricing of rail transport. This was stated by the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA). Attractive prices...Read more