It’s about shaking people up and raising awareness. This is an issue that is close to our Group’s heart and is reflected in the “Every meter counts – Freight Track Alliance” initiative: The need for investment in rail freight transport is huge.
The panel “Every meter counts – lack of rail parking spaces for rail freight transport” at the transport logistic trade fair in Munich was an important forum for this.
“Attention is increasing and we are receiving a lot of support for our initiative,” explained Matthias Prochazka, Head of Rail Transport at ARS Altmann AG, during the discussion. “It is important to involve all market participants and groups, including InfraGo, of course.”
He reports that specific fields of action have already been considered in working groups. According to him, the first on-site appointments also took place at the Munich-North and Berlin-North-East marshalling yards, among others. Overall, the need is enormous, starting with the lack of rail kilometers for freight traffic, defective switches and renovation work that cannot be postponed.
“The clear request to the Ministry of Transport is to release funds so that the work can start,” pleaded Matthias Prochazka in front of an audience of over 200 people from the industry. This sends a clear message to the InfraPlan, which the Federal Ministry of Transport is currently preparing.
The panel discussion with Yvonne Bounin, Head of Sales and Communication, DB InfraGO AG, Dr. Martin Neese, Chief Commercial Officer, VTG Group, and Peter Westenberger, Managing Director, Netzwerk Europäischer Güterbahnen (NEE) e.V., agreed that the modal shift towards more rail freight transport can only succeed with the help of greater public awareness. After all, more rail traffic (instead of road traffic) ultimately also benefits climate protection.
The inspiring keynote speech was given by Georg Lennarz, Head of Market Issues Freight Transport, Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) e.V., moderated by Dr. Petra Seebauer, Managing Director of LKZ Prien.
The freight track alliance “Every meter counts”, initiated by the industry in cooperation with numerous industry associations and representatives of the rail sector, is approaching politicians in order to sustainably improve the competitiveness and innovative strength of rail freight transport in Germany and to draw attention to the infrastructure needs of freight transport in the rail network, especially for stabling and dispatching tracks, including workshops.
