FERRMED calls for a new transport model with greater integration between rail and road.

The president of the organization, Joan Amorós, claims that the essential improvement of the freight railway infrastructure depends on the application of the FERRMED Study for the optimisation of rail traffic. The study concludes that Europe must invest where the bulk of the traffic is, while identifying the main 18 thousand kilometers and the 30 strategic hubs that would guarantee economic and social development. This investment is essential to meet the European environmental objectives established for the year 2030.

Barcelona, June 8, 2023

“A change of mindset is needed. It is not enough to discuss about trains or roads, we must aim for an integrated transport system”, says , Joan Amorós, president of FERRMED, who has presented the Study for the optimization of modal traffic in the EU at SIL, the Barcelona Logistics Show.

Rail traffic will never achieve the European Green Deal goals unless a comprehensive approach is made to the movement of goods, according to Amorós. It is necessary to invest in the 18 thousand kilometers of the European network identified in the Study.  An investment that would guarantee the achievement of 99% of the objectives set by the EU, according to the Study. The president of FERRMED asks EU member states to come up with “a priority investment plan for European land transport of goods“. Otherwise, it will be impossible to achieve the necessary objectives to face the environmental challenges of the sector. Likewise, Juli Fernàndez, Catalan Minister for Territory affairs, stressed that the FERRMED study helps decisively in the political decision making on the necessary investments. Fernández asked the Spanish Government for a budget execution committed to the Mediterranean corridor. Fernández underlined that the Catalan Government will use the FERRMED study as a guide in making future decisions. Josep V. Boira, Spanish government comissioner for the Mediterranean Corridor, warned that freight transport challenges must be tackled right away, and therefore maintained that the Government is working to achieve the the Spanish railway system total interoperability with the European one. The president of the European Shippers’ Council, Godfried Smit said that now is the time to make a change in the sector in line with the FERRMED study. Smit added that the study is an excellent tool for solving the challenges of combined transport in the form of driver shortages, high energy prices, road congestion and the challenge of sustainability and emissions. Akos Ersek, Director of UIRR, International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport, emphasized the need to combine freight traffic with clean sources of power generation, an approach defended in the FERRMED study. The “FERRMED Study of Traffic and Modal Shift Optimisation in the EU” has been developed since June 2019. More than 40 thousand hours of combined work have been devoted to its development. Never has such a complete study on integrated land transport of goods in the EU been carried out. Participants: 24 experts (professors, engineers, economists, geographers and senior analysts) from across the EU; 12 students from the Faculties of Economics, Engineering and Geography; the consulting firm MCRIT and the Universities of Antwerp and Barcelona. The Study will end in the third quarter of this year and the “Final Report” will be presented in Brussels.