ERA REPORT IDENTIFIES TIME SAVING POTENTIAL IN CROSS BORDER RAIL TRANSPORT
On 12 December the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) presented a report on Cross-border Rail Transport Potential, which assesses the growth potential of cross-border rail traffic that would result from removing technical and operation barriers. The report identifies a strong potential for time savings for rail freight, from 50 minutes up to 6 hours, when solving the technical and operational issues identified for the analysed freight corridors.
The study is a factual analysis of four cross-border sections, two for passengers and two for freight rail including Freight rail cross-border section Giurgiu Nord (Romania) - Ruse Razpredel (Bulgaria) - RFC7, and Brennero (Italy) - Staatsgrenze nächst Steinach in Tirol (Austria).
The study highlights how shifting freight to rail can help in achieving policy objectives such as environmental sustainability, better connectivity, and increased safety. This applies also to international and cross border transportation. However, the lack of interoperability in the rail sector is one of the main barriers when considering cross-border transport, which involves a series of technical, administrative, and infrastructural issues that generate operational problems. There is a substantial potential for time savings at cross-borders by solving technical and operational issues.
To solve these issues, the report recommends solving technical and operational issues by further harmonising national rules, which would lead to a substantial potential for time savings at cross-borders. On top of that, the harmonisation of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability would progress with the further closure of remaining open points and would lead to a positive effect on interoperability.
The Report is published on the ERA website and can be downloaded following this link: https://www.era.europa.eu/content/press-briefing-future-cross-border-rail