The European Commission’s proposal to amend the directive on the weights and dimensions of commercial road vehicles (96/53) is causing great concern in the rail freight sector.
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), the European Rail Freight Association, the International Union of Railways (UIC), the International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP – an umbrella organisation of national associations from 14 European countries representing over 200 wagon owners) and the International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport (UIRR), therefore commissioned a study by analysts at the consultancy firm d-fine to find out more about the impact of the proposed changes.
The analysis confirms the railways’ concerns. If the European Commission’s proposal is implemented without significant changes, the measures will have disastrous consequences from a socio-economic and sustainable development point of view, the railway associations warn.
According to analysts, the proposed increase in the permissible gross weight of heavy goods vehicles and the approval of the EMS (European Modular System) across the EU would lead to an average shift of around 21% from rail to road, and intermodal transport would lose up to 16% of loads. This could result in an additional 10.5 million lorry journeys per year, which could lead to up to 6.6 million tonnes of additional CO2 emissions and generate additional external costs of up to €2.2 billion.
Maintaining the road infrastructure would require more than €1.15 billion of additional taxpayers’ money per year.
“Although they are designed and labelled to serve the interests of intermodal freight transport, most of the measures are impractical, ineffective or unnecessary,” the railway bodies conclude.
Drawbacks of the proposal
The study looked in detail at three aspects of the proposed changes: the impact on door-to-door combined transport operations, the impact on the various rail freight segments, and the impact on road haulage in terms of energy efficiency and road degradation.
D-fine’s researchers identified three main problems. None of the longer EMS combinations can be handled in combined transport without increasing operational complexity. In addition, longer trailers (>13.6 m) are technically incompatible with railway wagons. Also, longer and heavier vehicles or vehicle combinations pose operational challenges for terminal operators (parking, communication, lifting capacity) and for rail freight and combined transport operators (train composition).
D-fine also assessed the impact of the proposed regulatory changes on various rail freight segments, such as single wagonload and full train movements, which carry a risk of a potential reverse modal shift (i.e. from rail to road) of up to 21%.
Analysts have also drawn attention to the impact of the provisions in the revised directive on energy efficiency and road deterioration. They believe that a higher number of axles potentially reduces the burden on road infrastructure, but also results in a higher tare weight and lower efficiency per tonne of load.
The researchers also estimated that 10 lorries with a total weight of 44 tonnes cause more damage than 15 lorries with a total weight of 40 tonnes.
Railway associations’ proposals
Following the conclusions of the d-fine study, the associations made the following recommendations to Brussels:
- A maximum gross weight of 40 tonnes for heavy goods vehicles should remain the norm in EU Member States. Exceptions should only be possible for road sections involving cross-border intermodal operations.
- Only zero-emission vehicles should be allowed to exceed the maximum total weight, and only as long as the corresponding battery capacity requires it (assuming a range of 1,000 km).
- Irrespective of the introduction of EMS, standard dimensions must be maintained for all types of loading units to ensure continued compatibility with different modes of transport.
“Setting standards for heavy-duty vehicles should not be at the expense of the necessary interoperability between modes of transport. We urge the European institutions not to forget the objectives of the EU Green Deal and the fact that they can only be achieved by encouraging a shift to rail,” said Gilles Peterhans, IPU Secretary General, commenting on the proposals.
Ralf-Charley Schultze, Head of the UIRR added:
“Technology neutrality, as well as the ultimate goal of greening, require the European co-legislators to update our rules so that the most energy-efficient and least polluting transport solution prevails, instead of introducing measures that increase the market share of road transport alone to 76%, half of which is currently long-distance transport. Door-to-door combined transport effectively meets all our European objectives in terms of transport, energy, climate, environmental protection and social policy.”