{"id":218365,"date":"2025-05-16T18:06:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T08:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=62515"},"modified":"2025-05-16T18:06:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T08:06:02","slug":"italy-to-lower-track-access-charges-6-months-earlier-than-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=218365","title":{"rendered":"Italy to lower track access charges 6 months earlier than planned"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Italian rail infrastructure manager Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) was planning to introduce a new tariff scheme for track access charges (TAC) in 2026, which would have significantly reduced costs for rail freight. In a welcomed-by-all move, the country\u2019s ministry of transport decided to advance it to 1 July 2025.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>This initiative should save the rail freight industry 20 million euros, which will be covered by RFI now that the ministry gave its green light. The scheme entails a discount of 80 cents per kilometre, 33% lower than current TAC. The news was applauded by both Italian sector associations, Fermerci and FerCargo. Fermerci\u2019s president Clemente Carta defined it as \u201ca first tangible response to the economic suffering that hit the sector\u201d.<\/p>\n

The issue of TAC is a burden for railway undertakings all over Europe. From Germany to Sweden, from the Netherlands to Romania, the ability-to-pay of rail freight companies is basically non-existent. The European Commission recently tried to intervene by adopting new guidelines on how TAC should be set up. However, these are not binding, which means that member states are still quite free to do as they see fit.<\/p>\n