European Single Wagon Load Rail as a Competitive Alternative to Road Freight

The European cross country transportation is majorly dominated by road freight which accounts for more than 78% of the goods transported in terms of volume. Since inception, the European single wagonload system which accounts for around 50% of the goods transported through rail has faced competition from road transportation. The high operational cost of single wagon load system has forced rail operators in countries such as France to scale down their single wagonload volume. Major rail operators in Europe have implemented the Netzwerkbahn Network to reduce the operational cost by increasing the share of block trains in the single wagonload system. The whitepaper highlights the potential cost savings that shippers can achieve by shifting from road freight to single wagonload rail freight. What?s in it for Shippers? Major shippers prefer road mode for transporting low volume, high value cargo while rail mode is used for transporting high volume, bulk type cargo across Europe. The high level of road traffic and increased awareness on carbon emission has resulted in shipper?s shift to road freight low volume single wagonload cargo. In order to serve the single wagon load traffic, rail freight operators have formed alliances with each other in order to offer cross country rail transportation services.