Common wisdom says that intermodal rail is the growth market right now. Whether true or not, developments on the Polish market sure seem to indicate that it is accurate. In order to get the most out of the intermodal growth opportunity, investments in infrastructure are key, says logistics company Rohlig SUUS. The company also sees intermodal playing a bigger role in its operations.
Rohlig SUUS’ Intermodal Product Manager, Łukasz Rother, recently shared some of his insights on the matter. He pointed to a new record market share for intermodal in Poland in H1 2026: 19.2%. This equalled 790,000 TEU.
Rother clearly sees the growth of intermodal as a good thing: it leads to a reduction in carbon emissions, allows for the efficient movement of large volumes of freight, and strengthens supply chains in the face of geopolitical challenges, according to him. Moreover, intermodal limits exposure to the challenges road transport is facing today. These include toll charges, fuel price volatility and limited driver availability.
Double-digit growth in 2026
Rohlig SUUS is also a party to the expansion of intermodal. “In 2025, the number of international intermodal shipments handled by Rohlig SUUS Logistics increased by double-digit growth compared to 2024, confirming the strong market demand for rail-based transport solutions”, Rother tells RailFreight.com.
“What is equally important, we expect this trend to continue. In 2026, we are forecasting another double-digit growth in intermodal volumes across Europe, driven by customers seeking more sustainable, resilient and cost-efficient supply chains”, Rother adds.
Rohlig SUUS has observed the strongest intermodal growth on long-distance European corridors. On these routes, rail can effectively replace a significant part of road transport, Rother explains.
“Our key intermodal lanes connect Poland with Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. These routes offer the right combination of distance, frequency and terminal infrastructure, allowing intermodal transport to deliver both environmental and operational benefits.”
It all depends on investments
With a push for sustainability and the availability of a standardised loading unit (containers), the expansion of intermodal does not look all that puzzling — the recipe is there. However, a continuation of this trend hinges on policy choices. More investment is necessary to meet market demand, says Rohlig SUUS.
The logistics company looks at its home base, Poland, as an example. Polish sea terminals are consistently increasing their scale of operations, Rohlig SUUS points out. In the first half of 2026 alone, the Port of Gdańsk increased throughput by 9% year-on-year, consolidating its position as one of the most important container hubs in the Baltic.
At the same time, Poland risks not fully exploiting the intermodal potential of ports. “It is well-developed infrastructure that determines whether competitive and reliable supply chains based on intermodal transport can be built”, commented Rother.
More terminal facilities, better rail
The Intermodal Product Manager points out that the network density, despite the presence of 40 terminals across Poland, is insufficient. In layman’s terms, Poland needs more terminal facilities to make the intermodal option more readily available to the country’s businesses.
The hubs at Małaszewicze (on the Belarusian border) and Sławków (near Katowice) are particularly important, according to Rother. The former is the most important rail freight gateway between Asia and Europe, but also allows containers to be consolidated, distributed and redirected to destinations across Poland and Europe by virtue of its concentration of terminals, warehousing capacity and rail infrastructure.
Sławków is Europe’s westernmost broad-gauge terminal, making it uniquely suitable for transportation to and from Ukraine. It also provides direct access to Central European industrial and logistics regions and serves as an inland logistics hub capable of supporting import, export and distribution flows, says Rother.
Lastly, Rother believes that investments in tracks, alongside terminals, is equally as important. “It ultimately determines how efficiently the entire intermodal system operates”, he says. “Infrastructure modernisation has clearly accelerated in recent years – line capacity is being increased and access to seaports improved.”
“The effects are already visible: the average speed of intermodal trains has risen to around 41 km/h, and on some routes journey times have been cut by more than an hour. Despite this progress, further capacity improvements and the elimination of bottlenecks remain among the most important challenges for the continued development of intermodal transport.”
What is Poland working on now?
Good news for the prospects of intermodal rail: Poland is working on its infrastructure. The infrastructure manager PKP PLK and the Office for Rail Transport (UTK) told publication Logistyka that there are tangible improvements taking place, including for freight.
For example, Poland’s rail infrastructure plans include an increase in the number of passing loops to allow faster passenger trains to overtake freight trains. During earlier modernisations, Poland removed many of these facilities, to the detriment of freight operations.
The return of passing loops, as well as an addition of more stations, should bring Poland closer to the German and Austrian models that separate freight and passenger traffic more, writes Logistyka.
A representative of PKP PLK also told the Polish publication that the organisation is working to improve freight train speeds, track loading capacity, and train lengths. “By the end of the year, we plan to increase the permissible axle load on 79 railway lines with a total length of over 900 kilometres”, the representative added.