According to the 2023-24 (International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport) UIRR Report, the UIRR community experienced a contraction of 10.57% in consignments transported, translating to a 9.39% loss in tonne-kilometres.
The figures constitute just one small part of the aforementioned report, which highlights the significant challenges faced by the industry, including disruptions caused by infrastructure works, natural disasters, strikes, and geopolitical crises.
A challenging year for combined transport
The report findings show that 2023 proved to be a difficult year for combined transport in Europe.
The UIRR members dealt with 10.57% less consignments, which resulted in a decline of 9.39% in tonne-kilometres – performance levels last seen prior to the pandemic.
According to the authors of the report, the negative trend began with the energy crisis in late 2022, and was later compounded by numerous infrastructure works that severely impacted freight train capacity and punctuality.
“Natural and man-made disruptions culminated at the expense of the Combined Transport community,” stated UIRR Director General Ralf-Charley Schultze.
The ongoing war in Ukraine, global trade disruptions involving China and the Red Sea, and overall weak economic output further exacerbated the situation.
Additionally, the cost competitiveness of door-to-door combined transport declined compared to long-distance road haulage due to the higher costs of traction electricity and rail infrastructure access charges.
Changes in demand for different combined transport routes
The data in the report also reveals significant fluctuations among the different European combined transport routes.
The routes AT-HU and SI-SK exhibited the most substantial increases, with +115% and +111% growth in consignments respectively, highlighting a significant rise in the exchange of goods between Austria-Hungary and Slovenia-Slovakia.
Conversely, the route DE-IT experienced a considerable decline of -15%, equating to a decrease of 115,000 consignments, indicating a reduced demand for goods transportation between Germany and Italy.
Additionally, the negative trends are evident on several routes, such as FR-IT and DE-NL, with -38% and -20% changes respectively.
Rail Freight quality and infrastructure issues
Another key component of the report concerns rail freight quality, which saw significant deterioration in 2023. The report states that the excessive number of works on the European railway network resulted in severe disruptions and a loss of capacity.
Freight trains often had to take long bypass routes, leading to increased costs and frequent cancellations. In reaction to this, UIRR says it called for prioritising freight trains to reflect their socio-economic and environmental benefits, stressing that freight cannot be easily transferred to trucks along impacted sections.
Meanwhile, the revision of the TEN-T Regulation was another noteworthy development, with technical specifications now recognising the need for a 4-metre loading gauge along the core network.
Moreover, the report spells out how infrastructure should also enable technical border crossing processes within 25 minutes for freight trains and to ensure punctuality levels of 75%.
“The Combined Transport community welcomes these improvements, “the report notes, and “will offer implementation support as well as monitoring.”
The impact of regulatory framework and digital transformation
The Combined Transport Directive’s amendment, proposed by the European Commission in November 2023, was also covered in detail in the report.
The UIRR community welcomed the proposal, which aims to simplify the definition of a “combined transport operation” while enhancing the regulatory framework to support CT’s role in long-distance transport chains.
However, the first readings of the proposal by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union were not completed, leaving the directive as an inheritance for the newly elected European Parliament.
The report stresses that digital transformation remains a crucial aspect of UIRR’s strategy. The successful digitalisation of the Combined Transport sector is envisioned as a smart and cooperative integration of all stakeholders into one ecosystem.
Key initiatives here include the KV4.0 Data Hub for system-to-system data exchange and the EDICT project aimed at enhancing data interoperability among CT stakeholders.
The report also highlights the UIRR CDM platform, which compiles relevant codes for data exchange, and the new ILU-Code website for identifying intermodal loading units.
Investment and future outlook
Despite the challenges, investment in intermodal infrastructure continued unabated in 2023. UIRR members invested in 11 new terminals and expanded the wagon fleet by 12.7%, adding 1,572 more wagons. These investments are expected to bring substantial additional capacity, positioning the sector for future growth once the current crises subside.
Looking ahead, the UIRR Sentiment Index for the 12-month business outlook recovered to “neutral” for 2024, indicating that the decline might bottom out by the end of 2023, with a potential rebound in the second half of 2024.
Finally, the report underlines the importance of the second phase of the CT4EU campaign, which aims to accompany the adoption of the Greening Freight Transport Package and demonstrate Combined Transport’s contributions to resilience and competitiveness.