All across Europe, countries are working to improve their rail infrastructure. This also means that there are many closures, capacity restrictions and associated effects on businesses. Even though European rail freight recognises the need for infrastructure works, the industry has had enough of the large number of simultaneous hindrances. “The limit has been reached”.
Railway undertakings and operators are currently facing severe capacity restrictions on European networks. This is the result of a combination of last-minute changes to line closures, low-quality or a complete lack of alternative routes, simultaneous works and poor cross-border coordination, says industry association ERFA.
As a consequence, operating reliably on the rail network is becoming increasingly difficult, says ERFA. For customers, trusting rail is also proving to be a challenge. “This is no longer an operational problem for railway undertakings”, adds ERFA. “It is a threat to European supply chains, industrial competitiveness, the Single Market and Europe’s ambition to shift freight from road to rail.
Rail undertakings acknowledge that infrastructure works are a necessity in order to maintain network performance and upgrade it. Still, their method of implementation remains a problem, according to ERFA.
Rail freight cannot stretch it any further
The association points out that rail businesses are already under pressure to deliver reliable, punctual and climate-friendly services. They face strong competition from other modes of transport. The ongoing infrastructure works are not helping in that regard. Rather, some businesses are risking bankruptcy due to the challenging operational environment. “There is a limit to how much disruption and losses the sector can absorb. That limit has been reached”, says ERFA.
The rail-road Combined Transport association UIRR paints a similar picture. It laments the uncoordinated infrastructure works and underperforming alternative routes. This, according to UIRR, leads to higher costs and lower transport quality. Moreover, with the energy crisis, chaos on the German network and extreme local weather factored in, the summer of 2026 has turned out highly complicated for both rail and combined transport.
Inadequate alternative routes
One of the most often-heard concerns surrounding the infrastructure works is the quality of diversionary routes. ERFA cites some particular cases from Romania and Bulgaria: a diversionary route on the Vidin–Golenți–Craiova railway has a maximum speed of 30 km/h due to the poor infrastructure condition. The Kardam–Negru Vodă and Medgidia–Negru Vodă detours cannot accommodate intermodal trains because of a weight restriction of 1,000 tonnes.
The list of issues is long: inadequate alternative routes, the need for more locomotives, additional staff training, more track charges to be paid, border delays, compromised supply chain security, and the resulting ever-feared reverse modal shift back to the road sector.
Four ideas to soften the blows
ERFA proposes four concrete measures to curb the impact of the many infrastructure disruptions. The association wants rail infrastructure managers to adopt a more customer-oriented approach. In practice, this means that they should involve the impact on rail freight much earlier in their planning process.
Second, ERFA reiterates an often-heard wish among rail freight businesses: infrastructure managers should coordinate internationally in order to prevent simultaneous corridor closures.
Third, the rail freight association believes that railway undertakings should receive monetary compensation for their additionally incurred costs. “Freight RUs have to bear significant extra costs due to longer alternative routes and subsequent higher TACs while they lose clients due to poor reliability of the network. They should benefit from TAC reduction and dedicated support schemes to compensate for these higher costs”, ERFA states.
The EU’s new State aid Land and Multimodal Transport Guidelines (LMTG), which has been applicable since 30 March 2026, allows this.
Lastly, ERFA wants the expected positive impact from the EU’s Capacity Regulation to come sooner. Currently, the first rail timetable under the Capacity Regulation is planned for 2031, but rail freight cannot wait that long, says ERFA. “They cannot wait another five years for meaningful improvements whereas they struggle for their survival and the financial equilibrium of their operators at this very moment. Progress is needed now.”