The future of freight: challenges and opportunities facing the industry

摘要

The European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) brings together newcomers on the European rail market. ERFA covers the whole value chain of rail transport across Europe and all members are united in a commitment to work towards a competitive and innovative single European railway market underpinned by attractive, fair and transparent market conditions for all railway companies. The decarbonisation of transport is the main political priority for the coming years. Although rail freight has a clear competitive advantage, the rail sector is not seizing the opportunity presented by decarbonisation to improve its efficiency and competitiveness. Customers do not choose rail on the basis of European Union (EU) policy priorities, but on decisions based on performance and quality. The rail sector must adopt a commercial and business-minded approach in order to become an attractive option for customers, and 2017 is the right moment to improve rail freight's competitive position against other modes. This represents many challenges, but also many opportunities.