Brussels, 07/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The railway industries and unions - the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) - concerned at ongoing trends in the rail freight sector, which is suffering from unfavourable competition conditions with other transport modes, adopted a declaration on Wednesday 2 December in which they suggest a raft of measures for the sustainable and fair growth of the sector.
In their declaration, the social partners, noting that 85% of state investment goes on the road network, call for reliable long-term funding of rail infrastructure to be ensured, better inclusion of rail freight in logistics chains and fair competition conditions to be established, particularly with regard to social and taxation conditions, between the various transport modes.
According to the declaration: “If implemented at European and national level, the measures envisaged as part of the plan will help set the right conditions for rail freight to deploy its full potential in terms of quality employment, contribution to a sustainable freight transport system and the achievement of the European climate targets for transport”. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)