Rail, by its small carbon footprint, and at the condition of strengthening its efficiency, is an accelerator of decarbonization of the freight sector. The more rail is used, the lower the effort to electrify road transport will be. On long distances, electrification for trucks is harder to achieve, whereas rail is particularly suited to cover these distances.
T&E managed a rail freight platform between 2015-2019. This platform provided us with the opportunity to meet with key stakeholders in rail and organise workshops to discuss some of the main setbacks to modal shift. We have learned a lot about why rail freight is not growing in Europe. These findings, as well as some stakeholder opinion pieces, can be found online at lowcarbonfreight.eu. This site offers some suggestions on how policymakers can play a bigger role in supporting modal shift as a means to decarbonise transport.