As representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU discuss (‘trilogue’) the revised Weights and Dimensions Directive, several European and national associations representing different branches of the transport sector voiced their opposition to the deployment of European modular systems (or ‘megatrucks’) on Monday 23 February.
The revision of the directive (see EUROPE 13770/13) should enable these wider, longer and heavier vehicles to be deployed in order to increase the loads carried and reduce freight emissions.
The signatories underlined the opposition of the general public, which, according to two opinion polls, supports rail freight and expresses fears about road safety.
The signatories felt that the text currently being negotiated does not adequately address the potential negative impacts of the proposal on modal shift, intermodal terminals, road safety, wear and tear on infrastructure, congestion or interoperability between modes of transport. They regret that the Combined Transport Directive is not being dealt with in parallel (see EUROPE 13739/10), even though the two issues are intrinsically linked.
Read the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/kvm (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)