The Connecting Europe Express, which is one of the European Year of Rails most prominent initiatives, has passed through Rotterdam yesterday and arrives today in Antwerp. Arriving in major European port-cities, the interdependencies and mutual reinforcement of European ports and rail freight connections come to the forefront. Increasing the share of rail freight will be an important building block of reaching the EUs Green Deal objectives and therefore should be a central focus of the European Year of Rail. Most European ports are located close to urban nodes with high pressure on the road network, which makes the increased use of rail freight a necessary choice for many ports. And vice versa, for rail freight operations, a significant share of the cargo transported on the tracks, particularly in high growth markets such as intermodal traffic, passes through the port.

Europes major Infrastructure Managers and Railway Undertakings endorsed a Joint Vision for the Sector on Digital Capacity Management. RailNetEurope, Forum Train Europe, the Rail Freight Forward initiative, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies, European Rail Infrastructure Managers and the European Rail Freight Association have published the cornerstones of the future of Digital Capacity Management (DCM). DCM will contribute to freeing up capacity on congested lines and boosting modal shift to rail for both passenger and freight traffic. A strong call for investments in Digital Capacity Management stresses its role as a major game changer in order to reach the Green Deal targets for the transport sector. DCM is the integral IT-part of the European programme - TimeTable Redesign (TTR) for Smart Capacity Management.

The first half of 2021 has seen rail freight experience the highest modal share of rail freight traffic in transalpine transport via Switzerland in 25 years. The modal split for rail freight has gone up from 71.5% in 2020 to 74.4% in the first half 2021 which is for sure the highest in Europe. This positive achievement shows first and foremost that modal shift is achievable when the proper political framework is in place. Lessons from these developments and Swiss transport policy should therefore be carried into European policy over the coming years.

ERFA welcomes the Fit For 55 Package which was unveiled by the European Commission on 14 July 2021, particularly regarding the recognition that there is a need to address emissions from other transport modes, but calls on policy makers not to lose sight of the modal shift objectives set out in the European Commission?s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.

Overview of ERFA activities and developments within the organisation throughout 2020. The Annual Report includes a strong focus on the work of ERFA to support private and independent rail freight companies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joint industry position of CER, ERFA and UIRR on the need to rethink transport charging and pricing principles taking into consideration Eurovignette negotiations and the European Commission's Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.

The recently published 9th Annual Market Monitoring Report of the European Regulatory Bodies confirms that the number of non-incumbent operators in the rail freight market is continuing to grow throughout the European Union. 2019 saw non-incumbent operators pass the milestone of one third of the rail freight market, accounting for 35% of national rail freight markets on average.

ERFA strongly supports the proposal of Germany to reduce track access charges for rail freight by 98% from March 2020 until the end of 2021, subject to an extension of the existing European legal framework allowing Member States to waive and reduce track access charges. ERFA continues to stress that such measures remain the best means to support the rail freight industry through the COVID-19 pandemic in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner. However, caution is needed to ensure that proposed direct support to the incumbent holding company does not result in cross-subsidisation or other activities.

ERFA welcomes the Joint Position Paper of a majority of EU Member States which was discussed during the informal Council of Transport Ministers meeting of 30 March 2021. This initiative, taken during the European Year of Rail, clearly shows that growing rail freight is a priority for a majority of Member States.

A broad coalition of European transport associations jointly call on Member States and the European Commission to ensure that the transport sector receives adequate consideration in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans.

The recently published European Commission seventh monitoring report on the development of the rail freight market has shown that rail freight growth remains stagnant, whilst the share of new entrants is constantly growing. If Europe is to meet its objectives of 50% growth of rail freight by 2030 and doubling by 2050, it is of utmost importance that ambitious measures are taken to grow the sector whilst also supporting private and independent operators in a fair and transparent way. In this regard it is imperative that momentum is not lost by Member States on the possibility to waive and reduce track access charges.