UIC in partnership with Hacon were granted last December the contract to carry out the EU funded study “User-friendly access to information about last-mile infrastructure for rail freight”.

The structure of the European rail freight market has profoundly changed over the past decades with the separation of network management and train operation in most countries, new market entrants appearing etc. This situation is particularly challenging for last-mile operation. DG Move has therefore taken the step to help the market with a customer-oriented web-based portal offering all the necessary information on last-mile infrastructure, be it terminals, industrial sidings, stations, shunting yards etc.

In the context of this study, UIC ran the first of two stakeholder workshops designed to assess market needs as well as information accessibility. As mentioned by Mr Troche, DG Move, in his introduction, the workshops will help identify user needs, supplier needs, as well as potential constraints that may be faced in the development of a pilot information portal.

The first workshop was very fruitful with very concrete output. It was attended by all representatives of the logistic chain. An initial long list of needs was established which will form the basis of an online questionnaire that will complement the information gathered through the workshops.

The second workshop will take place in Budapest on 21 April.