The European Transport Ministers, gathered virtually at their EU Council meeting, adopted two important sets of Council Conclusions on EU rail and on the EU Strategy on Sustainable and Smart Mobility this Thursday. The mobility...Read more
London’s rail freight future has been examined in detail in a new report compiled by Network Rail. Industry forecasts expect robust long-term growth in demand for rail freight services between now and 2043. The summary...Read more
The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail propose strategic changes to the way UK railway is governed, but talent will not be flowing away from the industry. Once people are in railway, they stay in railway. The...Read more
Much of the European rail network is currently free of charge. This is thanks to the regulation that allows for a waiver, or reduction of track access charges during the pandemic. However, this possibility is...Read more
The Rail Freight Group (RFG) has called today’s Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail the ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ to grow freight, as long as the proposed rail reforms deliver on the promises. The UK government has...Read more
Denmark is limiting operational options for foreign freight companies active in combined transport. Starting from 21 February 2022, the country will not allow more than three weekly road transport operations to combined transport undertakings. The...Read more
European policy makers should find a way of charging for infrastructure that incentivises the greenest possible choice of modality. This requires a multimodal approach, rather than an isolated policy for a single transport sector, say...Read more
Railway associations want to prolong the regulation allowing to waive, reduce or defer track access charges in the face of Covid-19. The regulation would last until the end of June, but they asked for it...Read more
The Commission’s guidelines concerning the European Green Deal’s implementation are comprehensive and necessary. However, the Combined Transport (CT) sector needs to focus on some specific aspects to contribute the maximum in the collective goal. As...Read more
The pandemic and the consequent lockdowns continue to impact heavily on rail freight. Compared to 2019 figures, revenues from rail freight have gone down from -3 per cent in December 2020 to 10 per cent...Read more
The Belgian government will invest at least 365 million euros in railways during the coming years. Railways have been “neglected for too long” in Belgium, and the specific investment will play a critical role in...Read more
The rail freight operator FELB (Far East Land Bridge) has appointed Uwe Leuschner as its new CEO. Leuschner will concentrate on the strategical alignments of FELB Group, Business Development and International Relations. He previously worked...Read more
Finland and Estonia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday 26 April 2021 for more cooperation. This will promote projects such as Rail Baltica, the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel, Trans-European Transport Networks, and the North Sea–Baltic Sea...Read more
Germany has proposed to continue the reduction of track access charges until the end of 2021. Interestingly, the charges will almost be nullified; from the current 50 per cent reduction it wants to move to...Read more
The Railway Industry Association, the voice of the UK rail supply community, has published five manifestos ahead of the devolved national and regional elections taking place next month in parts of the UK. The documents...Read more
The UK rail freight industry will be a critical part of the supply chain. That is the finding of the Rail Freight Group’s Phil Smart, newly appointed to the RFG policy team and representing the...Read more
The European Commission has imposed fines today of more than 48 million because Deutsche Bahn, NMBS and ÖBB have formed a cartel. Between 2008 and 2014, the companies made mutual agreements about who would help...Read more
Rail infrastructure needs to be adjusted to the needs of intermodal traffic, and the revision of the TEN-T regulation is the ideal moment for such a change. That is the core message of the UIRR...Read more
