ERFA-European Rail Freight Association

ERFA ANNUAL EVENT On 10 September, ERFA will organise its annual #event in Brussels. At this occasion, Dirk Stahl, President of ERFA and CEO of BLS Cargo AG, will present the #ERFAmanifesto, highlighting some key priorities for the next five years 2024-2029. Policymakers and actors of the rail freight market will also hear a panel discussion featuring: Albert Bastius, COO of TX Logistik Transalpine GmbH Josef Doppelbauer, Executive Director of European Union Agency for Railways Tilly Metz, MEP, European Parliament Salvatore Prudente, Executive Director of MEDLOG Transport & Logistics Pieralberto Vecchi, CEO of AMBROGIO INTERMODAL Join our conversion! Register below: ➡ ➡ ➡ https://shorturl.at/GcZ8X ⬅ ⬅ ⬅ #railfreight #ERFA #ERFAmanifesto #ERFAevent2024 #rail #freight

Yesterday (18 June), the #EUCouncil adopted a #GeneralApproach on the Commission Proposal for a Regulation on #RailwayInfrastructureCapacity (COM (2023) 443). ERFA, together with other European associations representing #railfreight private and independent operators, wagon keepers, customers, freight forwarders and the combined transport sector, highlights that the general approach does not go far enought to meet the stated objectives of the Commission proposal. Issuing associations: CLECAT ERFA-European Rail Freight Association European Shippers' Council International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) UIRR Dirk Stahl Conor Feighan Nicolette van der Jagt Roman Stiftner Gilles Peterhans Ralf-Charley Schultze Read our Joint Statement ⤵

ERFA, UIRR and two national associations - DIE GÜTERBAHNEN in Germany and RailGood in The Netherlands - brought together their expertise in a Joint Paper outlined some key priorities for enabling #railfreight to meet its growth targets set for 2030 and 2050. The new five-year legislative cycle starting after the European Parliament Elections (06-09 June) will indeed be of crucial importance to make modal shift a reality. The alliance of associations identified three key priorities: 1) Intermodal and intramodal #competition: the race to the bottom must stop 2) Rail must be given priority in intermodal #investments decisions 3) New and expanded #infrastructure with a European perspective Ralf-Charley Schultze Neele Wesseln Hans-Willem Vroon Conor Feighan Dirk Stahl Maciej Gładyga

ERFA Secretary General Conor Feighan contributed to the Florence School of Regulation Policy Brief on the revision of the #RailwayStateAidGuidelines. He elaborated on how to create a sound legal framework for operational aid. Access his comment below ⤵

📢 ERFA, alongside fellow railway associations, echo the findings of a recent #survey, which reveals that the majority of European citizens consulted are unaware of the serious impact of introducing "#gigaliners" or "#megatrucks" on the road network. 👉 Respondents were unaware that these megatrucks bring with them a whole plethora of #safety concerns and pose a significant risk to existing #infrastructure. 👉 A vast majority consider the promotion of rail-road #CombinedTransport as preferable to reduce road congestion and ensure higher safety standards. ➡ The cross border circulation of mega trucks which may be introduced under the EU #WeightsAndDimensions Directive is extremely contentious and fails to consider the wider social and economic impacts. ➡ It also undermines the EU’s ambition to #decarbonise the transport sector, working against the intention to promote electrification of road transport and at the same time leading to a modal shift from rail to road, which contradicts the EU’s proclaimed goals. ⏩ Member States must hear the concerns expressed by the rail sector and confirmed by EU citizens. CER (Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies) ERFA-European Rail Freight Association UIC - International union of railways #UICrail UIRR CT4EU UNIFE | The European Rail Supply Industry Association European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) More in our press release ⤵

Proposed hikes to #TrackAccessCharges #TAC throughout many European countries have the potential to totally undermine Europe's modal shift objectives. Planned increases in TACs in #Sweden, #Germany and #Portugal display a broader trend in railway infrastructure charging throughout the EU. It is not possible for national governments and Infrastructure Managers to talk about modal shift to rail whilst also putting rail freight in an increasingly competitively disadvantaged position with other modes of transportation. In the long-term, the EU and Member States need to develop an ambitious #TrackAccessCharges policy for rail freight which, at its core, focuses on the role of TAC as a strategic tool in achieving #ModalShift. In the short-term, #support measures to compensate for increases in charges must be introduced as possible under Article 34 of #SERA Directive. Conor Feighan Dirk Stahl DIE GÜTERBAHNEN Neele Wesseln DVZ Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung More in our press release ⤵

ERFA welcomes the Enrico Letta's High-Level Report on the future of the EU #SingleMarket. Rail in general and rail freight in particular rightly take a prominent role in this document with a number of ideas fully in line with ERFA priorities: 1) Completing the TEN-T #Network is key for reinforcing the Single Market. However, decision-makers must acknowledge that the rail part of the TEN-T Network is lagging behind with noticeable deficiencies for multimodal connections, especially rail-port. 2) There is a need to synchronise railway systems across Europe, as the #SERA has not yet fully materialised with fragmentation of infrastructure and formidable technical barriers remaining. ERFA believes that this observation should lead policymakers to adopt an ambitious text on the future #RailCapacity Regulation as to make capacity management on cross-border routes easier. 3) The report recognises that up until now, #ERTMS deployment has been uneven, leading to access issues for approprietely equipped rolling stock and complex national rules impeding interoperability. Centralised EU-level governance, coordination on migration and deployment, and substantial investments from the EU, Member States and private investors are vital to make this deployment a reality across Europe. 4) #RailFreight services are key to achieve net-zero logistics for European industrial sectors. The report notes that to increase rail freight modal share, there is a need for more infrastructure capacity and better industrial site designining to include sufficient rail connections. 5) The report calls for building a #HighSpeedRail network connecting Europe's capitals and major urban centres. This idea could be beneficial for rail freight if the new high-speed lines free up capacity for freight trains on conventional lines, and if the construction of these new lines does not lead to scrap investments in the maintenance of conventional lines. Access the full report here: https://lnkd.in/dPMppUdz Conor Feighan Dirk Stahl Maciej Gładyga

Few minutes ago, the leaflet of the #MoreEUBudgetForTransport #TheBestInvestmentPlanForEurope campaign was handed over to the European Commission on the central stage at the #ConnectingEuropeDays. ERFA Secretary-General Conor Feighan was on stage to call for a renewed and expanded #ConnectingEuropeFacility #CEF, an indispensable tool to reach the rail freight growth targets set for 2030 and 2050. Access our Press Release on the campaign: https://lnkd.in/e4w4bHUZ

52% ( 1) market share for rail freight challengers in 2022!   Few days ago, irg rail published new figures on the market shares of challengers and incumbents on the #RailFreight markets in the 12th Annual #MarketMonitoringReport.   In 2022, #Challengers (#NewEntrants and foreign operation of incumbents) represented 52% of the rail freight traffic (in terms of net tonne-km), confirming and even increasing the figures from 2021 where for the first time, challengers outreached domestic incumbents.   This increasing #MarketShare of challengers is mainly fuelled by the continuous growth of new entrants. Given the current trends, new entrants would overcome the market share of domestic incumbents before 2030!   The trajectory of rail freight market share reflects the success achieved by the opening of national rail freight markets to competition. It also highlights the need to ensure that EU legislation takes into account the needs of new entrants. Access the full report from IRG rail: https://lnkd.in/ep8tSuiT

Yesterday, Dirk Stahl CEO of BLS Cargo and ERFA President took part in a high-level discussion on Boosting #RailFreight Transport in Europe: what worked - and what still needs to be done. While the meeting was attended by #TransportMinisters from several countries (Germany, Belgium, Latvia, Czechia) and by stakeholders representing the whole rail freight sector, he delivered some key messages: 1) Rail freight needs infrastructure #resilience... ...while construction works and temporary closures are multiplying across the EU network. Resilience means planned reroutings in coordination between RUs and IMs with a focus on ensuring interoperability of locomotives and personal along the rerouting lines. 2) Rail freight needs #redundant lines... ...along main corridors with same parameters as to easily reroute traffic in case of planned or unplanned disruptions. In that regard, the rerouting of freight traffic on the Lötschberg line during the closure of the Gotthard Base Tunnel was a good example. Along the Rhine Alpine Corridor, redundancy is needed on the Left Bank of the Rhine with the electrification of the Wörth-Lauterbourg-Strasbourg line. 3) Rail freight needs #ERTMS... ...that benefits from consistency in specification, parallel on-track and on-board deployment, and harmonised test specification EU-wide. #ConnectingEuropeDays #BoostingRailFreight