14/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Rail growth continues. On Tuesday 14 February, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) unveiled the rail industry figures for the third quarter of 2011, which continue to show an upswing in growth. In freight transport, the EU15 plus Switzerland saw a 4.4% increase in tonne-kilometres, compared with the same period the previous year, and Central and Eastern European countries saw a rise of 3.3%. Despite this positive growth, tonne-kilometres in the third quarter of 2011 remained below pre-crisis levels by 8.1% and 11.3% respectively. Passenger-kilometres also grew, but only very modestly: by 0.1% in the EU15 plus Switzerland and by 2% in Central and Eastern Europe. “The recovery of the rail freight sector across Europe and the positive growth in rail passenger transport for two quarters in Central and Eastern European countries is an encouraging development. It shows that the railways are on the right track. At the same time, the sector has to keep up this good performance despite the economically tough times”, said CER Executive Director Libor Lochman. (MD/transl.rt)