The proposed new Rail Infrastructure Capacity Management Regulation has been introduced as part of the Greening Freight Transport Package because freight needs more and better-quality train paths to deliver the modal shift needed to achieve European climate, energy and transport policy objectives.
The International Union for Road-Rail Combinsed Transport (UIRR) proposes the following key changes to improve the proposed Capacity Regulation from the perspective of rail freight operations:
1. Introduce a minimum train length requirement for train path applications on highly utilised or congested sections of line: rail infrastructure is designed and built to carry heavy and long trains, therefore light weight and short trains should only be allowed if capacity utilisation allows it.
2. Remove constraints on bypass capacity design: rail infrastructure managers should not be limited to defining bypass solutions on their own network but, if sensible, involve neighbouring networks. The bypass should take into consideration other modal alternatives.
3. European train path categories and hierarchy: European train path categories should be offered in the Regulation such as an “express freight train”, which should command superior timetable speed, punctuality and reliability KPIs to guide traffic management decisions.
For more information, please see here.