NEW STUDY ON LIBERALISATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE RAIL FREIGHT MARKET
On 24 March, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) presented the conclusions of its study on the current status of liberalisation, its effects on the rail freight market and remaining hurdles which have to be overcome in order for rail freight to be able to play its necessary role as the most sustainable means of freight transportation.
According to the study results, it can be concluded that the liberalisation process, which started 20 years ago, has fundamentally changed, diversified and internationalised the European Rail Freight Market. Incumbent rail freight undertakings now account for less than 50% in many national markets (e.g. Germany, Italy, Poland), and in some countries the original incumbents have disappeared entirely. Challengers, which consist of new entrant Railway Undertakings, but also as part of foreign activities of incumbent subsidiaries, have increased their market share on average in European countries from 17% (2007) to a market share of 48% (2021) and represent almost half of the EU rail market. The report suggested that, as challengers are especially strong in the growing markets of the international intermodal business, it is expected that they will have a decisive role to play in modal shift and will contribute to the Green Deal.
Source: ERFA