Freight train operators in Portugal will have reduced increases in the access track charges (TAC). The infrastructure manager (IP – Infraestruturas de Portugal) released an updated version of the network statement for 2025, 2026 and 2027, following a study published by the Transport and Mobility Authority (AMT). Smoother price increases answer the concerns of the freight operators about their business sustainability and competition with road alternatives.
In Portugal, the track charges (minimum access package) are paid by passengers and freight operators on a per-kilometre basis. The amount depends on the line category, timetable departure, whether the rolling stock is electric or not, and whether it is a regular service, special or an empty run.
For 2025, following the Covid-19 pandemic and the high inflation rates of recent years, freight operators were expecting to face a track charge increase of 21.25%, for an average amount of 1.746 euros per kilometre. Such a rise would damage rail competitiveness against road transport, which benefited from the end of toll charges on around 1000 kilometres of highways.
Portuguese freight train operators complained, and AMT intervened, analysing the track access structure and proposing initiatives to make rail transport (at least) as competitive as truck service. Minimum access package variations barely influence passenger companies, since their operators are under public service contracts (CP – Comboios de Portugal) or public-private partnerships (Fertagus). In this segment, the only exception is CP’s Alfa Pendular, run with Pendolino trains and considered a commercial service, without subsidies.
Lower increases
After the policy intervention, freight operators will face a track charge increase of 2.4% in 2025, the same inflation rate forecasted by the Government. On average, the freight access charge will rise from 1.44 to 1.47 euros. For the period 2026-2028, AMT recommended a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 12.33%, with average access charges of 1.66 euros, 1.86 euros and 2.09 euros in 2026, 2027 and 2028, respectively.
Lower increases are combined with a government subsidy of 9 million euros every year until 2028, under the green mobility package. Nevertheless, the smoother track access surge and the government subsidy are “lower than the amount paid by the operators to the infrastructure manager”, as AMT recognises in a recently published report. Without intervention, freight operators would face a track charge surge of 6.93% in 2026, 6.37% in 2027 and 5.49% in 2028. On average, that would cost 1.867 euros in 2026, 1.1986 in 2027 euros and 2.095 euros in 2028.
Compensation incoming
This governmental initiative will reduce IP’s revenues by around 5.1 million euros compared to the case base scenario. The state is required to compensate for this amount, which is fundamental to fund the conservation and maintenance of the Portuguese rail network. Access track charges represent the majority of IP’s own revenues for rail network management.
If there was no initiative, “there would be a risk of creating a negative incentive to reduce the maintenance requirement to lower costs for operators”, warns AMT. The better the rail track condition, the more willing operators are to use trains to carry goods, with positive impacts on IP’s budget. For this reason, AMT introduced an efficiency criterion to improve network investments in the proposal to update track charges.
Addendum and doubts
AMT recommendations were followed by IP, which published an addendum to the network statements between 2025 and 2027. TAC were the only change between the original and addendum versions. The AMT’s report is based on a moderated growth scenario for the freight market, following the “reopening of the Beira Alta line (North International Corridor) in 2025 and the beginning of the operations in the rail track between Évora and Caia (South International Corridor, probably in 2025 and certainly in 2026”.
However, the reality is different between the two links. In Beira Alta, freight operators excluded the possibility of riding 750-metre-long trains in this TEN-T corridor, fully reopened in September 2025, because route gradients were not intervened: this means that long freight trains would require two locomotives, eliminating the reduction of costs expected. Between Évora and Caia (next to the Spanish border), the new 90-kilometre rail track is not expected to open before the beginning of 2027, after the certification process.
The problems with both TEN-T corridors might compromise AMT’s plan. This question was raised by APEF, the association that represents Portuguese freight operators. The Mobility authority claims that “the billions of euros invested in the network modernisation will certainly have a positive and relevant impact on the system’s sustainability and competitiveness, particularly in the freight rail transport”.