Pandemic support for the railway industry in the form of adjusted track access charges could be a longer-term measure to support the modal shift to rail. The European Commission is currently looking into a more...Read more
The Track Access Charges Summit kicks off today in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with a full and very interesting two-day programme. During this hybrid event taking place on 20 and 21 April, experts from all over...Read more
Traction prices of rail freight in Hungary are going to be higher than estimated. The high prices are a direct result of the rising energy costs, but pose a challenge to the rail freight industry,...Read more
After five years of negotiations, the new EU rules on road tolls are a fact. The European Parliament adopted the Eurovignette Directive on Thursday 17 February. However, the new rules mean little good news for...Read more
The cost of rail in Kazakhstan will be significantly reduced. Track access charges on most sidings have been decreased by as much as 93 per cent. This was announced by the official information source of...Read more
The EU Commission has proposed to extend the possibility to reduce or waive track access charges, in order to continue support for the railway industry throughout the pandemic. It is suggesting to prolong the support...Read more
In order to mitigate the effects of the crisis caused by Covid-19 on rail transport, Spain extends the reduced track access charges. This was detailed in one of the amendments to the General State Budgets...Read more
Until last week, railway undertakings in the Netherlands were able to respond to the draft of ProRail’s new Network Statement 2023. Freight carriers in particular made use of this option, as they are faced with...Read more
The French government will invest 170 million euros per year until 2024 in the rail freight industry. Among other measures, half of the track access charges will be subsidised. It wants to double the transport...Read more
From 2023, a new method will be used for calculating the track access charges on the Dutch railway network. In practice, this means that the kilometer charges will be reduced by 57 per cent. On...Read more
Hungary is considering reducing its track access charges by 40 per cent, following the example of several EU countries. This measure could support rail freight during the ongoing pandemic, argues HUNGRAIL, the strategic partner of...Read more
Many countries in Europe have enabled access to rail at a reduced or even nullified rate in order to support railways during the pandemic. This is great news for the railway undertakings, but not all...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
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
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
A level playing field for road and rail transport can only be achieved when charging for access to road or rail happens on an equal basis. However, as many have argued, we are still far...Read more
There are different ways in which countries determine segments on the rail market for infrastructure charging. In a webinar on 17 March, an online seminar on railway transportation market segmentation was held by LatRailNet, the...Read more
The Polish infrastructure manager PKP PLK has withdrawn its request to increase track access charges of the network in 2022. As a result, the fees for accessing the railway network in the country remain at...Read more
The Belgian government has announced to financially support the rail freight industry. Until 30 June, a reduced tariff applies for freight trains, and cancellation and reservation costs are waived. The support scheme applies from 1...Read more
Rail freight operators fear that from 2023 onwards, the track access charges in the Netherlands will be higher than those in neighboring countries. In particular, the user charges for sidings and shunting tracks may skyrocket....Read more
The Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) has published a report outlining a series of recommendations to guide the European Commission, infrastructure managers and regulators for the setting of track access charges on 2 May....Read more
