GERMANY: Four policies to increase rail’s share of the freight market are set out in a position paper which rail advocacy group Allianz pro Schiene has produced ahead of the federal election on September 26.
These are:
- infrastructure investment, including increasing electrification from 61% of the national network to 70% in 2025 and 75% by 2030, as well as facilitating the operation of 740 m and, in the medium term, 1500 m long trains;
- fair competition, including a permanent reduction in access charges and exemption from electricity taxes;
- promoting innovation, including the introduction of digital automatic couplers;
- creating the right conditions for rail freight, including uniform EU-wide rules for combined transport.
‘Rail freight traffic has grown by 70% over the past few years, faster than the market as a whole’, said Armin Riedl, Allianz pro Schiene’s spokesperson for combined transport.
‘With a market share of less than 20%, rail freight has by no means exhausted its potential. Neighbouring countries like Switzerland or Austria show that with an ambitious policy, significantly more traffic can be shifted to the railways.’
