The international Combined Transport (CT) association UIRR has left its CT Sentiment Index at “neutral” for the coming year. CT performance is likely to flatten out after a 2024 rebound at 5.2%.
UIRR cites war, tariffs, growing public debt and the “directionless economic performance” as factors impacting CT performance and resulting in a neutral outlook for the next year.
Moreover, weather and construction works stopped an earlier process of recovery: “The good news of the Fréjus line reopening was tarnished by extreme weather, flooding and works-related disruptions throughout the European railway network, bringing the fragile recovery of Combined Transport volumes to a halt during the second quarter of 2025”, UIRR says. The Q2 quarterly performance of CT dropped slightly by 0.16%.
A recent policy change, namely the revised TSI Wagon, is also bound to affect CT negatively. It severely hinders trailer transport by rail. “Approval of the TSI Telematics on the other hand was postponed, giving the Combined Transport Community more time to present its arguments for a business-conform solution”, the CT association adds.
The 9th EU rail market report
At the same time, the European Commission came out with its 9th report on the development of the European rail market. The Commission sees growing competition and low emissions in rail compared to other transport modes, but also persistent challenges. Those include ageing infrastructure, of which 57% is electrified, and staff shortages. Around 40% of the total rail workforce was over 50 years old as per 2022 data.
The Commission also identifies congestion and slow deployment of digital systems, such as ERTMS, a challenge to be overcome for European rail.