Three months ago, Czech MEP Ondřej Krutílek asked the European Commission to explain why rail freight is struggling and what is being done to stop the bleeding. Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas finally responded with a half a page letter that still leaves a few unanswered questions, especially about immediate relief.
Tzitzikostas first pointed out how the three segments of the rail freight sector (block trains, intermodal and single wagonload) are all underperforming for different reasons. The decline in block trains, which make up the vast majority of traffic, was attributed to “economic change”. Intermodal “growing but not yet enough to compensate for block train losses” and SWL is just less competitive than using trucks.
DAC as only solution for SWL
The other two questions concerned the Commission’s plan to increase the competitiveness of rail freight and to stabilise the ever-unprofitable SWL services. For the latter, Tzitzikostas only mentioned “the pilot deployment of Digital Automatic Coupling” (DAC). According to him, it “could” increase the attractiveness of single wagonload by improving shunting operations.
Whatever opinion one might have of DAC, the main point is that it will not be fully deployed until the early 2030s at least. The Commissioner identified “structural high costs, fragmentation, and empty runs” as the main challenges faced by SWL. On the other hand, he did not address what is being done to make sure that SWL operators can survive until DAC is adopted.
No immediate solution
For rail freight in general, Tzitzikostas pointed to two main initiatives: the new guidelines on state aid for land and multimodal transport and the Capacity Management Regulation. The new guidelines allow for a higher coverage, from 50% to 90% of the cost of a project, while the Regulation will introduce a new timetabling system, but only from the end of 2030.
In his response, the Commissioner also referred to an answer he provided in April 2025 to questions coming from Austrian MEP Sophia Kircher. Back then, he highlighted the main measures taken by the Commission to support rail freight, but also acknowledged that “the investments remain below the needs”.
Building new lines and terminals, deploying DAC and ERTMS, and what is left of the Greening Freight Package are all important measures, but do not provide immediate relief. They all require years of commitment and billions of euros, while the sector needs concrete action in the short term as well, as numbers are dropping in most EU countries.