Green rail transportation: Improving rail freight to support green corridors

Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to illustrate the current state of European rail freight research and how this can improve rail freight to support green and sustainable transport, as promoted by the governments of the European Union (EU). Since much of EU policy is based on EU funded research, a review of such rail- and freight-related research, carried out over the past 20 years under the EU/EC framework programmes, will help to contextualize the challenges faced in promoting the governance of green corridors. International rail freight systems, improvement of rail-road modal transfer points, unexploited markets, vehicle design, train productivity, energy use, signalling and governance of multimodal corridors, are all discussed. We argue that green corridors, as a strategic freight transport policy, can only realistically be implemented alongside improvements to the long distance transportation sector, where rail becomes the backbone network of land surface transportation. Additionally, with the trend towards urbanization, where road would serve pretty much the last mile freight operation, a reliable, efficient, safe and environmentally sound inter-urban long distance rail freight system is needed, to support economic growth and to maintain the quality of life of every EU citizen.