The Dutch rail freight committee has presented a letter of appeal to government negotiators. In the letter, the committee requests the next government to take concrete steps for the betterment of Dutch rail freight. A...Read more
The Netherlands desperately lack a vision for rail freight. That is the message of Hans-Willem Vroon, director of RailGood, a Dutch organisation promoting the interests of the rail freight sector. The Dutch government fails to...Read more
The Dutch government will provide subsidies amounting to 24 million euros for the adaptation of rail vehicles to level 2, baseline 3 or higher of the European Train Control System (ETCS). The regulation is aimed...Read more
The Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) updated the country’s strategy for the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). The new programme focusses on implementing cab-signalling with European Train Control System (ETCS)...Read more
One of the hottest debates in the European rail freight sector is the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and its signalling and control component, the European Train Control System (ETCS). Alberto...Read more
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will loan 992 million euros to the Czech Ministry of Finance “in support of a major railway upgrade”. This is the largest loan from the EIB to the Czech Republic.Read more
The European Commission (EC) has amended the Dutch scheme to implement ERTMS on with an additional injection of 21 million euros. With these new funds, the current budget for this initiative is 67 million euros,...Read more
The European Commission (EC) has reactivated a scheme to support rail interoperability in the Czech Republic over the next five years for 380 million euros. This initiative, unlike its predecessor, also includes a new measure...Read more
The Dutch government coalition led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte resigned at the beginning of July. Many industry players in the Netherlands voiced their disapproval of how the rail freight industry was managed throughout the...Read more
RailGood, the main rail freight association in the Netherlands, sent a letter to the country’s State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW), Vivianne Heijnen, with three demands to facilitate the shift from road to...Read more
The European Commission (EC) is allocating 300 million euros to Italy for the implementation of ERTMS. As the EC specified, the money will be granted “to railway companies for the acquisition and installation of ERTMS...Read more
54 per cent of new vehicles put into operation between 2015 and 2019 were done so without ERTMS onboard units being equipped. This is in contrast with the ambition of the EU to gradually implement...Read more
To finance the 100-billion-euro plan announced last month by French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou insists that “all accessible sources of funding must be used”. He even proposes taxing motorways and airports...Read more
Belgium prides itself that 52 per cent, or 3,333 kilometres, of its national railway network, is equipped with ETCS. Across the border in the Netherlands, by contrast, ‘only’ four lines are currently under ERTMS. Indeed,...Read more
Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the ‘Transport’ committee of the European Parliament, presented a new joint declaration from the rail freight industry urging the EU to accelerate the modal shift to rail. Delli highlighted that if...Read more
Spanish national railway company Renfe will invest 122,7 million euros for the improvement of the rail freight transportation system. The funds will be used to acquire new, greener, rolling stock and to implement new technologies...Read more
EXCLUSIVEThe first freight locomotive has entered fitting out with an advanced digital communications package, necessary for the step-change upgrade to the prestige London – Scotland main line. Rail freight operator DB Cargo UK and technology...Read more
The on-board rollout of ETCS is behind schedule because operators have little incentive to invest in the system when they can still run on class-B systems, says Marcin Wojcik, Policy Officer at the European Commission...Read more
Rail carriers in the Netherlands are not compensated for the 12 per cent increase of track access charges, nor for the cost involved with the transformation to ERTMS. State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management...Read more
Investment in rail infrastructure and the EU-added value this creates, are extremely important if the EU wants to achieve its objectives of decarbonisation, digitalisation, and increased competitiveness. This will be the core message of the...Read more
The UN climate summit in Glasgow last year was moved to November 2021. This gives the rail sector the opportunity to work towards this event in the European Year of Rail. ProRail director John Voppen...Read more