05/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 September, the European Parliament adopted by a wide majority (541 votes to 6 with 15 abstentions) the own initiative report by German Greens/EFA MEP Michael Cramer calling for the development of greener transport and the transfer of freight from road to less polluting modes of transport. The report calls on the European Commission to speed up the introduction of “green corridors” for freight transport and to foresee greater incentives to encourage eco-compatibility of all modes of transport. It also calls for over minimum EU quality criteria to be included in multi-annual contracts on the quality of rail infrastructure and for the meeting of quality standards to be a precondition for the granting of funding for the construction, development and maintenance of rail infrastructure. “The EU still has a long way to go to shift significant freight traffic from road to rail. In Europe, only 17 percent of goods are transported by rail. Even in the US, a highway-dominated country, the figure is 40%. The EU will only be able to cope with its growing freight transport if its rail infrastructure is massively improved,” explained Cramer in a press release after the vote. (A.By/transl.fl)