(Finance) – “The completion of the single European railway space is crucial for the growth and development of Italian and European rail freight transport. The new European Parliament will inherit the approval of important provisions which may influence the development of the railway logistics sector. For this will be fundamental, a clear and coherent transport policy with the billion-dollar investments already made for the creation of the integrated and multimodal trans-European transport network, which once completed will allow the achievement of the objectives of sustainable development and modal transfer, from road to rail, established by the 2030 Agenda and the Green Deal”. This is what he said Giuseppe Rizzi, general director of the Fermerci Association – the Association representing the entire Italian rail freight transport sector – on the occasion of the conclusion of webinar “What future for Italian and European rail freight transport?” organized by Fermerci in which Olga Simeon, Davide Bordoni, Andrea Casu, Nicola Procaccini, Flavio Tosi participated.
“As an Association – he added Rizzi – we ask that national institutions also intervene to support the sector to accompany the ongoing infrastructural transition, as is already happening in other European states.”
In 2023 the Italian rail freight transport recorded one loss of 3.2% compared to the previous year due to geopolitical tensions and multiple contingencies, some of which are unforeseen. The prospects remain worrying until 2026 due to railway interruptions which are causing an infrastructural transition in the sector, necessary to allow the implementation of the PNRR works on the railway infrastructure, but with a reduction of up to 60% in railway freight transport capacity. If not adequately managed, this situation – underlines Fermerci in a note – risks further compromising the competitiveness of Italian rail freight transport, already at the bottom of the list compared to other European countries, even though Italy has the fourth largest railway network in Europe. Despite this capillarity, in fact, the railway freight logistics sector in Italy is characterized by traffic volumes of 12.6%, significantly lower than the European average, which stands at 17%.
Fermerci Association, in the new community legislature, makes it known that it will organize periodic appointments with a focus on the state of implementation of the most important European measures for the development of the sector. The project, launched with today’s appointment and called “Fermerci Europa”, intends to promote the connection between community and national institutions in the interest of the railway logistics sector.