The rail freight sector made tremendous efforts in 2020 to keep Europe’s economies connected, supporting both industry and society throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Rail freight undertakings have been heavily impacted by the crisis and have suffered financially as well. The crisis is not over yet, which is why we need ongoing support measures for the benefit of the entire European economy.
Railway Undertakings are very grateful to the European Commission for Regulation 2020/1429, which authorizes infrastructure managers to reduce, waive or defer charges for accessing rail infrastructure. The Regulation was first introduced for the period from 1st March 2020 – 31st December 2020 and was then extended until 30th June 2021. The European Commission is empowered to extend the Regulation until April 2022. A number of Member States reduced their TAC’s whilst the others took the opportunity to waive track access charges completely. Even in the face of huge volume and revenue losses brought about by the crisis in 2020, the sector has proved that rail freight transport has an important role to play for the climate and for delivering supplies of critical and systemic importance.
In the enclosed letter written and signed by the European associations and sent out to the EU Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) on 18th May, the associations strongly urge the European Commission to extend Regulation 2020/1429 by a further 6 months.
Rail freight transport has taken on a crucial task when it comes to climate change policy and plays a crucial role in achieving European environmental and climate targets. Rail is essential for the future of Europe and support is urgently needed to secure the industry’s survival. It will prepare the ground so that the sector can continue working towards achieving 30% modal share by 2030 as well.
We, the Members of the Rail Freight Forward Alliance, fully support the enclosed position of the associations and ask for the above mentioned request to be either fully implemented at national level or to extend the existing measures until the end of 2021. Regulation 2020/1429 on track access charges (TAC) benefits all operators equally and it remains the simplest and most appropriate means to support the sector.