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Road/rail storm in Brussels
Page 7
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ROAD versus rail dispute surfaced at a blic hearing in Brussels last week orga;ed by the European Parliament Transii Committee on the subject of energy ving and transport, reports our Brussels rrespondent.
The EEC's railway organisations argued 3t carrying goods over long distances by I consumed less energy, and they called economic measures to strengthen their ctor.
At the same time they pleaded for a A tax on lorries — "the least economic eans of transport" — linked to the ileage they cover — could be a first step, ey said. The case for the lorry was put by the :C's motor industry, which pointed out at rail is more fuel-efficient only in cerin conditions. "The existing varieties of transport patms require that most goods start and Id their journey by lorry. "Even if the energy requirements per nne/km were higher for the lorry than for e railway, direct delivery by road is even ss costly and even more fuel-efficient, le to the fact that the average distance by ad alone is often shorter and transhipents are avoided." Another paper, put forward by the EEC's iambers of Commerce and Industry, said hat if there was a fuel shortage road insport should have priority. "This will continue to be the only means available for much of the transport which is essential to the economic life of the country," it added. The paper said that substantial additional savings can be made by speed limits, alleviating bottlenecks, and increasing the weight and sizes of lorries. Larger lorries, which have been allowed in Italy and Denmark, were said to have boosted energy saving in those countries. But the Chambers of Commerce were somewhat sceptical about the scope for energy saving by combined piggyback transport systems.