Can rail freight pick up volumes amid Austria-Italy road axis disruptions?
Traffic along a key road freight axis on the Austrian border with Italy, the Lueg viaduct, will be reduced by 75 per cent at least until 2027. Italian local authorities are now urging to increase the use of rail freight along this corridor, especially since there is much capacity available. The Chambers of Commerce of Trento and Bolzano, two Italian provinces near Austria, are pointing out that the intermodal hub in Trento is massively underutilised and could provide a helping hand to the supply chain in the area.
The hub has a rolling highway service operated by Rail Cargo Group to Worgl, in Austria, which, in 2024 put trucks on rail with six weekly trains per direction. This translated into a mere 13,104 trucks travelling on rail last year. However, according to the two institutions, there is room for 40 more trains per day, which would mean almost 184,000 trucks removed from the very busy roads between Italy and Austria every year.
With only one of the four lanes per direction which will remain open on the Lueg viaduct, the hub in Trento and the rolling highway service to Austria should come in handy, the two entities argued. "Even a small increase in the number of trucks transferred to rail could have a positive impact", they said in a joint statement.
Difficulties to persist until Brenner Tunnel is ready
It needs to be mentioned that the Brenner rail axis linking Italy and Austria has been experiencing a reverse modal shift over the past couple of years, with more goods going back to the road. Using the road is a much cheaper option for shippers in this area. Things might change in the 2030s, with the future opening of the Brenner Base Tunnel.
Up until then, "the transfer of traffic from road to rail is a transit system that has limitations" the two Chambers of Commerce highlighted.
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References
- ^ See the offer (www.railfreight.com)