To ensure the coherence and continuity of the infrastructure capacities available along the freight transport corridor, investments in that specific corridor should be coordinated between member states and the infrastructure managers involved, as well as, between member states and third European countries, when necessary, and planned according to a logic that meets the needs of the specific freight corridor as long as it is financially viable.
The establishment of a common strategy in track access charges on the corridors exclusively dedicated to goods transport should be enlisted on the infrastructure managers’ agenda. Moreover, a common strategy concerning the infrastructure access charges at cross-border or trans-continental level for container transport would be a method aimed at developing rail freight transport compared to other transport modes.
The optimization of international freight traffic
“The level of charges is first and foremost dependent on the level of state funding for infrastructure managers. Levels of charges differ widely across the European Union, and are exactly in line with the level of cost coverage that member state governments offer. The starting point is therefore for member state governments to comply with EU legislation and ensure that the accounts of infrastructure managers are balanced and that track access charges are at levels which the rail market can bear”, declared Johannes Ludewig, Executive Director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER).
These principles are essential to the economic efficiency of the rail sector. If properly applied, they would offer support not only for the development of container transport, but indeed for all rail market segments. The CER Executive Director believes that additional measures – not related to the charging regime – can be deployed in order to give specific support to containerisation and to the development of rail freight corridors.
Not always what is useful to rail freight transport operators, who contribute to the economic growth through their activity, is also followed in practice by decision-makers in any field of activity. A simple analysis, taking into account the current economic environment which imposed significant restrictions to the rail freight transport activity and a drop of shipped volumes, shows that, apart from a viable strategy on track access charges, the establishment of corridors exclusively dedicated to freight transport should be one of the current priorities in the attempt of reviving freight transport. “Often, freight operators pay 5 to 25% of their revenues to the infrastructure managers. Given this proportion, track access charges naturally can be an important policy instrument with regard to rail traffic management”, believes Michael Clausecker, UNIFE’s Director General. Today an obstacle for the development of railway transport corridors is the existence of different payment regimes in different countries, making it difficult for train operators to calculate the costs of international operations. A train going from London to Milan would pass through different charging systems: through the British system, the Channel Tunnel, through France, possibly Belgium, through Switzerland and finally through Italy. This renders international transport for rail very complex, concludes Michael Clausecker.
Keeping the same line, that of international rail transport, the UNIFE representative believes it is problematic that different countries pursue different, sometimes opposing policies towards freight traffic. Some countries incentivise the use of shorter and lighter freight trains whereas others incentivise longer and heavier trains. This of course makes it difficult to plan rail traffic and increases its costs.In the attempt to maximize the improvement of rail freight transport and container traffic, but internationally, Keir Fitch, DG MOVE’s official for railway transport, made it clear for us that in the medium term, the users of the new corridors will also benefit from the elimination of bottlenecks and the harmonization of infrastructure parameters, making rail freight in the corridors not only easier, but also more efficient.
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