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Increasing road tolls 'will not boost rail freight'
Page 14
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It seems that the only way to tempt freight from road to rail is for rail companies to improve their services. Sally Nash reports.
PUSHING UP ROAD tolls will only have a minimal affect on the transfer of freight to rail— the way to boost rail freight is to improve the quality of rail services.
This is the conclusion of a study by German consulting group TransCare. It was commissioned to find out if increasing road tolls would persuade European firms to transfer more freight from road to rail.
The study predicted that a El/ km increase in road tolls would lead to a transfer ofjust over 1%.
TransCare concluded that trying to make rail more attractive by imposing higher charges for road will not work as 70% of the volume of goods transported by road are not sensitive to changes in transport prices.
TransCare's Undine Barck hausen says rail companies need to listen to their freight customers in order to improve their services. She rejected the findings of the McKinsey study, which suggested that a €.0.60/km increase would prompt a significant modal shift:"1 don't think they knew the rail business. We've been working in the field for 15 years, and for our study we spoke to a lot of people about their reasons for not moving." Rail freight group EWS declined to comment on the survey's results.