The Fit for Freight series is into its 3rd year after having started as part of the UIC’s Freight Month celebrations for its 100th anniversary. The aim of these webinars is to showcase best practices, highlight the daily use of UIC assets, and explain how UIC’s work contributes to the benefit of the rail sector.
The first webinar was held on 19 November and discussed seals in rail freight transport, with the speakers being Jürgen Scholz (DB Cargo), Guillaume Murawa (the International Rail Transport Committee (CIT)), and Philip Van den bosch (UIC).
Webinar highlights:
The speakers started by providing the audience with an update regarding the second edition of IRS 40426: Guide for attaching fasteners to freight wagons and intermodal transport units (February 2024), which serves as a technical standard jointly developed by CIT and UIC experts. It exemplifies cross-organisational cooperation and mutual support among competence centres.
The IRS offers a comprehensive guide on sealing wagons, detailing its applicability, the rationale for sealing, technical seal features, and procedures for handling irregularities. The document highlights its connection with other regulations, including customs authorities, and references various CIT documents and checklists.
A critical component is the CIT Checklist for sealing wagons, designed to simplify wagon and intermodal transport unit (ITU) sealing. This checklist is a recommendation and only binds CIT members to the extent that members adopt it. Its latest version came into force on 1 July 2024.
The checklist outlines provisions and addresses wagon types, seal features, and sealing irregularities.
Examples include detailed tables and illustrations for specific wagon types, such as Wagon Type H, with further descriptions available from CIT’s General Secretariat. A matrix outlining responses to sealing irregularities was then presented, covering various stages of transport from acceptance to delivery. Additionally, the speakers discussed the handling of seals and showed a diagram detailing the process for applying seals in international traffic.
The second Fit for Freight session, held on 22 November, focused on unveiling the 2024 Combined Transport Report jointly published by UIC and the International Union for Rail-Road Combined Transport (UIRR). With around 300 registered participants, the event provided a detailed analysis of the sector’s developments and future outlook.
The speakers were Philip Van den Bosch and Frédéric Hénon (UIC), Tobias Blatgen and Alexander Labinsky (SCI Verkehr), Harald Reisinger (RailNetEurope), and Ralph-Charley Schultze (UIRR).
The full report can be found at https://uic.org/IMG/pdf/uirr_uic_report_2024_v1-3_out_2_.pdf.
Webinar highlights:
The growth of combined transport (CT) has been instrumental in stabilising the modal share of rail freight, although further efforts are needed to meet the European Union’s 30% target. Between 2018 and 2023, CT expanded by nearly 9%, contrasting with an 8% decline in total rail freight transport, and now accounts for more than half of all rail freight tonne-kilometres in six European countries.
CT has proven vital for keeping rail competitive with road transport, with all unaccompanied CT segments showing growth between 2019 and 2022. Cross-border connections, particularly transalpine routes, represent one-quarter of CT activity, while corridors to and from Eastern Europe are gaining prominence.
80% of CT trains arrive within 15 minutes of their schedule, but inconsistencies and occasionally severe delays undermine reliability for clients. Nevertheless, rail carrier revenue from CT trains grew by 33% from 2018 to 2022, reflecting its resilience. As an evolving market, CT is projected to grow by 3% annually until 2040, with the realisation of its full potential relying on bottlenecks being addressed and reliability being enhanced.
The report further represents a central document in CT analysis due to the new established relationship between UIC and RNE.
In this context, Harald Reisinger, CIO from RailNetEurope noted that as CT has grown and more partners have become involved, the complexity of transport systems has increased, though this is now better managed than before. The rail sector is evolving from national, manual operations to a European, digital, and flexible model, although this transition demands improved data availability and stronger cooperation among stakeholders. Reisinger emphasised the importance of advanced data-sharing frameworks, as outlined in the Rotterdam Declaration, to ensure that all parties involved in transport have access to critical information, enabling better coordination and paving the way for innovation and growth in rail freight. He finished by stating that RailNetEurope anticipates even closer cooperation with UIC in the next report, which is set to be published in 2026.
On behalf of Francois Davenne, UIC Director General, Philip Van den bosch provided insights on the technological opportunities offered by combined transport and the key factors that empower it as a resilient transport solution.
