The current rail network and intermodal terminal of the European Union will not be able to cope with the expected growth in the transport of rail goods and, in particular, intermodal shipments. The report highlights the "Roadmap to Zero-Carbon Combined Transport 2050" study commissioned by the International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport (UIRR), which specifies how this realization takes into account the effects of the EU's Green Deal on the transport sector. The European decarbonisation programme, in fact, has the general objective of making Europe the first carbon neutral continent on the planet and, in order to achieve it, has been agreed by here to 2030 reduction in carbon emissions by 55% (compared to 1990), while achieving complete carbon neutrality is expected by 2050, with a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the transport sector that is 90% percent.

The study points out that, in this area, combined door-to-door transport can help achieve this in that it offers CO2 savings potential of up to 89% compared to road transport. In addition, the technologies needed to zero the carbon emissions of combined transport are already available today.

The document notes that the EU's baseline scenario provides for an increase in freight volumes of goods in Europe by 27% percent by 2030 compared to 2020, and by 51% percent by 2050. In addition, in accordance with the objectives of the railway sector and the European Commission's roadmap to a single European transport space, it is assumed that by 2050, the doubling of the share of goods transported on rail, with a consequent tripling of the performance of freight trains in terms of tonne-kilometre transported. The study specifies that this increase will be essentially driven by the growth of combined transport that is expected to reach a 70% percent share of the total European rail freight in terms of tonne-kilometre by 2050. In this respect, the study clarifies that the current railway infrastructure and intermodal terminals currently in service would not be able to cope with this uptick, however, specifying that for the different modes of transport involved in the combined transport there are various measures to enable capacity increases within the existing infrastructure and, in combination with each other, to meet the demand.

The study also notes that by realizing the adjustments of the European rail network to the TEN-T standards it is possible to use significant capacity reserves, while, as far as intermodal transshipment is concerned, the modernization of the infrastructure existing and increasing the density of the terminals are of decisive importance to enable efficient intermodal transport chains across Europe. In this regard, the document recalls that the assessment carried out as part of the TEN-T network review process indicates that approximately 300 additional terminals will be required to create a resilient and comprehensive network. The study specifies that, however, the resulting terminal network should also offer the capacity reserves required to cope with increased use determined by a higher modal share of the railway by 2050.

The study also specifies what might be the value of investment to create a resilient infrastructure for both rail and combined transport, valuing in 537 billion euros the expenses that would be needed. make up until 2050, of which EUR 490 billion for the railway infrastructure of the TEN-T network-including 330 billion of already planned investments and 160 billion needed to eliminate bottlenecks-and 47 billion euros from the private sector for the expansion and enhancement of intermodal resources, i.e. terminal and other assets.