EU & Sector Initiatives

Rail Freight Forward

Rail freight for climate, mobility and health

RAIL FREIGHT FORWARD (RFF) is the EUROPEAN COALITION of RAIL FREIGHT undertakings, industry partners and federations including CER. Formed in 2018 during COP24 and brought to life by NOAH’s TRAIN, the longest mobile artwork in the world, RFF is raising attention for the role and emphasizing the relevance of RAIL FREIGHT for Europe´s future and climate!

The coalition has the ambition to increase the modal share of rail freight to 30% by 2030 as the macro-economically better solution for European growth. It strives to engage railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and policymakers across Europe in acting to realise this modal shift.

Future of mobility

 

Radical transformation in terms of European co-operation among all players within the logistics chain, as well as fast implementation of new technologies to rolling stock and existing infrastructures and leveling the playing field between transport modes, will allow Europe's rail freight industry to finally unfold its full potential and achieve a modal share of 30% of all goods transported in Europe by rail until 2030.

SERA, the Single European Railway Area, through its combination of interoperability, digitalisation, automation and multimodality, will enable high-performance rail logistics processes that support our daily lives.

Green, Resilient, Innovative. We've got the vision

  • Seamless thanks to Digital Platforms (DP). One consolidated data system for all countries and companies allows for seamless international transport and new more competitive rail freight products for customers. All rail freight corporations agree on one platform for Europe.
  • Borderless thanks to European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) granting consistent digital infrastructure and train systems throughout Europe, thus allowing for our "one train for Europe" vision.
  • Flexible by Digital Capacity Management (DCM). Internationally standardized capacity planning enables instant and fully digitalized freight booking.
  • Easier by Autonomous Train Operation (ATO). Automatic steering and pacing supervised by one train operator allows for both remote steering by qualified pilots as well as fully automated control in terminals and shipyards, opening up the way for more trains operating simultaneously and thus higher freight loads being transported.
  • Faster thanks to Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC). Replacing manually operated coupling with a stronger standardized digital solution allows for longer and heavier freight trains with higher speeds. Train assembly is fully automated.

Find out more on the Rail Freight Forward website.

Noah's Train

The RFF coalition first made its mark in 2018 by launching Noah's Train as a symbol of its climate commitment and to win hearts and minds in support of the modal shift. Noah’s Train started its journey on 14 of December 2018 in Katowice, Poland - then hosting the COP24 Climate Summit. As the train travelled over an entire year through Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Latvia and Spain, prominent local street artists gradually transformed the train into the world’s longest mobile artwork, inspired by the oldest tale of environmental activism. After the campaign, the designed containers were put back into operational use on rail - for the most climate-friendly way to transport goods and merchandise.

More information on the initative is available here.

Coalition members

Find out more about the coalition at www.railfreightforward.eu.