In 2020, the Federal Ministry of Transport set the target in the “Masterplan Schienenverkehr” of increasing the share of rail freight transport in the modal split in Germany to at least 25 % by 2030. In this way, rail freight transport should make an important contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and thus help protect the climate. The reason for this is that, in comparison, a freight train emits only 15% of the amount of CO2 per tonne-kilometre as a truck. At present, the share of rail freight transport in the modal split is still about 19 %. In a Europe-wide comparison, it is even somewhat lower, at about 13 %. The most used mode of transport in freight transport continues to be road freight transport; this accounts for approx. 71 % of the transport performance in Germany.
To achieve the target, set in the “Masterplan Schienenverkehr” for the modal split, the attractiveness of rail freight transport must be increased in comparison to the other transport modes. On the one hand, this can be achieved through innovations in the equipment of rail freight transport and combined road/rail freight transport (CT), which increases the efficiency of the transport and transhipment processes. For example, automation can improve the control and execution of transport processes. On the other hand, the organisation and planning of transport and transhipment processes can also be improved. One example of this is that the interlinking of pre-/main- and on-carriage in CT can be better coordinated through digitalisation. However, another aspect to increase the attractiveness of rail freight transport compared to the other transport modes can be government actions and subsidies. For example, the costs of the transport process in rail freight transport can be influenced by train path prices, or innovations in rail freight transport can be initiated by subsidy programmes.
Often, the focus is on innovative solutions for rail freight transport; government actions and subsidies to change the modal split are usually only considered in general terms or as a necessary secondary condition. To close this gap, this project, therefore, deals with the existing state actions and subsidies in rail freight transport. The project aims to compare the state actions and subsidies to support rail freight and road freight transport. As a result, a systematic overview of the existing government actions and support programmes is to be created to derive hypotheses on how to achieve the goals formulated in the “Masterplan Schienenverkehr”.
Key Data:
Project Duration: May 2021 to July 2021
Funding: The project is sponsored by DB Cargo AG.
Project lead: Raphael Hackober
