In general, railway operators are little oriented to the needs and growing expectations of their customers that mainly refer to reliability and price levels, available capacities, information management, transport time and flexibility. Consequently, railway freight transport is currently confronted with various difficulties which partially explain its incapacity of increasing the market share.
The quality of services is still the weak point of rail freight transport and its customers require a higher commitment and transparency in the area. The European Commission believes that the services supplied along the European railway network oriented to freight transport have to have an optimal level of quality that, once improved, should have a positive effect for the railway freight transport sector. The quality of freight-dedicated corridors could become a benchmark for this sector in Europe.
One of the methods for increasing the attractiveness on freight transport by railway is to reduce the volume of necessary “paper” documents and to increase electronic support. The manual system for information provision generates errors, slows down the ticket booking process and increases costs. Last year, DG MOVE published a questionnaire aimed at assessing the progress on the e-Freight project. Through this project, the European Commission plans to improve Europe’s economic competitiveness paying special attention to the transport sector. The details of the analysis launched by DG MOVE are not yet public, but a complete report will most probably be launched soon.
The e-Freight integrated programme (European e-Freight Integrated capabilities for co-modal transport Project – EFIP) began in 2010 and ends in 2014. 30 partners of 14 EU member states, plus Norway, are involved in a platform-programme aimed at proving and validating the capabilities and innovations brought by the computerization of elements related to the bureaucracy of freight transport. The computerisation of freight transport can only add value to the process from economic grounds. The electronic applications for simplifying railway freight transport procedures, e-freight, are considered key initiatives in the establishment of the Single European Railway Area in the White Paper on Transport of 2011.
The computerization of railway freight transport is an ambitious and complex process of the European Union. Despite its acknowledged advantages, especially for the heavy and large capacity cargo, railway transport is burdened by reasons related to both technical and legal aspects. We are talking about those barriers that need to be overcome in order to create an interoperable network across Europe, but also on the corridors that link Europe to Asia.
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