Present and Future of Rail Freight. Problems and Challenges

Rail plays a key role in the present and future of intermodal freight transport worldwide. In this contribution we examine rail freight as a whole to identify the main problems and challenges in strengthening its competitiveness. The role of rail freight in Europe and worldwide is described in terms of infrastructure, fleets, mobility, modal share. Targets for the future vehicles, infrastructures and services needed and/or planned to accommodate future trends and developments are described, along with the main barriers of the rail freight market. Three key market issues are then discussed more in detail: automation and digitisation, internalisation of noise externalities, and optimisation of operational models. The main identified research problems and challenges are summarised.