ESTA Europe’s Post

This is what you achieve via #advocacy and #lobbying when you: 🔹talk to the right persons; 🔹at the the right moment and 🔹using the right messages! Thank you ESTA Europe and Ton Klijn for your trust and cooperation. We continue our efforts to achieve more harmonised EU rules on #abnormal #transport.

Yet another political setback for rail freight! 😞 We regret yesterday’s decision by the European Parliament to open the door to the cross-border traffic of longer and heavier trucks throughout the EU.   Why, you ask? As already pointed out in a joint study 👉https://lnkd.in/gxg2FkSF, the introduction of 44 t trucks and EMS combinations will lead to: 🚨 a #reverse #modalshift from rail to road due to less competitiveness because - road transport will be able to reduce its costs by up to 25 % - intermodal transport operations will become more complex 🚨 higher #externalities at the expense of the planet and society (energy demand, CO2 emissions, pollution, accidents, road degradation, etc.)  It is not difficult to see how these developments go in the exact opposite direction of the declared objectives of the #GreenDeal, while undermining the necessary complementarity and cooperation between modes of transport!   A weak consolation 👀 UIP acknowledges the few safeguards introduced by the Parliament, notably the obligation on EU Member States to condition the introduction of European modular systems to prior assessments of their impact on the environment, traffic volumes, modal cooperation, and modal splits.   One last strand of hope ☝ The legislative process is not over yet. The ball is now in the court of the EU Member States.   We hope that the ‘giga liners’ will not see the light of the day on EU roads but we stand ready to come forward with proposals that guarantee the full technical and operational compatibility of all loading units used in road transport with the railway system.   #StayTuned #NoToGigaliners #FutureOfRailFreight

𝗘𝗨’𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲 IRU takes note of the Court of the European Union's decision on the #MobilityPackage1 challenges brought forward by Member States. The Court annulled the rule on the return of the vehicle, but it confirmed the validity of all other contested provisions. Raluca Marian, IRU’s EU Director, said, "We are taking note of the Court's decision. It is clear that the law should be read as if the return of the truck provision was not included. “However, it is not clear what will happen next. “Will the European Commission try to build a case with more information around the proportionality of that measure? “Or does this judgement put an end to the EU attempt of requesting operators to bring trucks home in addition to the necessary visits for mandatory technical inspections?” Read more ➡️ https://go.iru.org/NR #RoadTransport #MP1

Road and rail Transportation are complementary modes, not competing modes. Trucking companies in North America are some of the largest rail customers when and where intermodal transportation makes logistical sense. Even in international cross-border services.

Will longer trucks harm Europe’s rail freight push? Isabel García Muñoz, a centre-left S&D group lawmaker, responsible for shepherding the revision of the Weights and Dimensions Directive through the European Parliament certainly doesn’t think so: “This proposed revision cannot be the boxing ring of ‘road’ against ‘rail’. The revision is a crucial piece of legislation and of the puzzle to make freight transport greener but complementary to rail capacity.” “The future is to cooperate! All transport modes have to make real efforts to comply with the EU decarbonisation goals,” she added. MEP Markus Ferber, the centre-right EPP group’s lead on the file, similarly said that the directive is about providing the right incentives to ensure road freight becomes more sustainable: “Which mode a company ends up choosing depends on the feasibility, attractiveness and competitiveness of each mode.” “The question of how competitive rail is, should not come at the expense of greening our freight transport on European roads,” he added. #RoadTransport

NLA Newsletter Week 11 2024 In this week’s newsletter you can read about the Parliament approval to keep allowing high-capacity vehicles to operate across borders and updated rules for cooperation on road-safety traffic rules.

Brussels does not accept the main rail network concession for #NS The European Commission does not accept the awarding of the main domestic train traffic for the coming years to Nederlandse Spoorwegen. The Netherlands must provide explanations again. The case could end up in front of the European court, which can impose fines and penalties. The commission, responsible for ensuring fair competition in the #EU, formally put […] https://lnkd.in/eHYURGJg #railindustry #rail #railtech

The European Commission’s proposal to amend the #WeightsAndDimensionsDirective (#WDD) concerning commercial road vehicles presents some problematic points. The railway sector is concerned that the proposal will result in a reverse modal shift from road to rail while also making road and rail transport incompatible in many cases, thus substantially harming intermodal and combined transport operations. #railfreight #railfreightnews #railcargonews

Cross-border rail transport in #Switzerland has somewhat taken a few steps back as international agreements are no longer valid due to unresolved institutional issues with the European Union (#EU). One of the most important agreements concerns a simplified procedure for rolling stock registration for cross-border traffic. #railfreight #railfreightnews #railcargonews

With a marginal majority (300 votes against 295), the European Parliament has approved the legislative proposals of the #Weights and #Dimensions Directive (#WDD) part of the #GreeningFreightTransportPackage (#GFTP). In practice, this means that the #Parliament approved, among other things, the circulation of #gigaliner trucks and the use of heavier trucks diesel-powered trucks (44 tonnes) in cross-border operations. #railfreight #railfreightnews #railcargonews