Decarbonise rail – yes, but above all prioritise its growth

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It is well-known that railway is the most environmentally sustainable mode of transport: Rail only produces 0.4 % of the EU transport sector’s overall emissions. In contrast, road emits 76.2% of transport emissions.

The rail sector also has a clear path to deep decarbonisation, through increased electrification and energy efficiency, battery-powered trains, and even alternative fuels.

However, Josef Doppelbauer, executive director of the EU’s European Railway Agency (ERA), said he personally believed that potentially, the “aviation industry will consume all” alternative fuels, in response to an audience question at a launch event for its ‘2024 Rail Environmental Report’ in Brussels last week (2 July).

Doppelbauer’s concerns seem to have merit, based on the orientation of recent industry events. This year’s International E-Fuels Dialogue was indeed focused on e-fuels use in aviation, and last year the conference focused on road transport.

But does the rail sector really need to get in the race for alternative fuels to retain its crown as the most sustainable option?

The truth is that there is still much to be done to increase rail’s attractiveness for passengers and freight across Europe, which has stagnated relative to other transport modes. Just 7 % and 12 % of people and goods respectively are transported by rail in Europe.

The same report highlighted that the road network occupies as much land as half of Portugal, a much larger scale than the space occupied by Europe’s railway network:

In a sector where infrastructure is particularly costly, the investments required to improve national and European railway systems are massive, and political will may be lacking.

“Railway infrastructure is still underfunded in most member states”, according to the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER)’s manifesto.

Take Portugal as an example. This is a particularly isolated country in Europe and is not even served by a direct train connection to neighbouring Spain’s capital, Madrid.

Notwithstanding a recent announcement of future high-speed connections linking Lisbon with Porto and Madrid, the country is still lacking a clear plan for the sector.

A National Railway Plan was announced in 2021, but to date it remains neither approved nor funded. This plan is needed to define the national and international investment priorities for the rail.

While Germany has much better international rail connections, it remains very common for passengers to suffer delays and cancellations.

To remedy the situation, Deutsche Bahn must renovate 40 main railway routes, in a massive effort that starts on 15 July and will last until 2030, costing around €45 billion.

At the European level, improving interoperability of national systems is crucial for increased cross-border connectivity. However, member states are lagging behind on the much needed harmonisation of rules.

In other words: By all means, rail should be decarbonised. But there is still much to do to ensure an attractive and well-functioning rail service, both for passengers and freight. Addressing this – and taking traffic from air and road – should be the number one priority.

[Bárbara Machado]

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[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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