There is still 19% of empty space on European rail freight right now. That observation was shared by Osman Akdemir from Rail-Flow at Intermodal Europe 2026. To unlock that capacity, the industry needs more collaboration, but it need not wait for data standardisation to take action, he says.
Even with existing rail infrastructure, we can gain 10% to 20% in capacity, according to Akdemir. And whereas rail operators say that they are out of capacity, Rail-Flow sees that there is still some 19% of empty space on trains already running.
Lots of companies are positive about intermodal and want to incorporate a rail leg in their transport operations, adds Akdemir. Unfortunately, intermodal remains a “set of old silos”: it is challenging to gain even minimal data and visibility, such as ETAs. This is much easier done in road-only transportation.
Data sharing across intermodal chains can be expanded through data standardisation. However, Akdemir says that he wants people to stop talking about that. There is a push to make everyone work with standards, he says, but AI development can remove that need.
“We have all kinds of initiatives for standardisation”, the Rail-Flow representative says. “But then what? Who is going to pay? No one is doing it. We should not bankrupt ourselves on standardisation.”
For example, shipper documents are often still entered into systems manually. This is a question of a huge volume of documents, and especially Poland is mentioned as requiring lots of documentation. “We don’t need a standard for this”, says Akdemir. “AI can do this for you already.” In other words, there is efficiency to be gained without waiting for standardisation.
Cross-border TEN-T
Jeroen Bolt, Programme Manager “Joint Corridors Off-Road” at the PPP Topsector Logistiek, sees other opportunities. Infrastructure usage can be much higher than what it is now, Bolt says. Industry discussions often address capacity, but remain focused on the separate modes of transportation. “Mitigating capacity issues is often a question of looking at other modes”, Bolt explains.
The low water levels on the Rhine river are a good example. “One could cooperate with road and rail to mitigate those problems. “Yes,” Bolt adds, “improving infrastructure is a solution for capacity, but it takes a long time.”
Besides the timeframe for completion, infrastructure projects in Europe face another challenge. Despite its cross-border nature, TEN-T is still very EU Member State-focused, says Bolt. Member States decide on investments. That needs to improve if infrastructure projects are going to deliver on capacity promises.
“In the Netherlands we have the [freight-dedicated] Betuwe Line, it has been ready for twenty years”, explains Bolt. “But, it will take until 20-never until Germany has their part ready.”