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Rail Freight Forward Coalition: Message spread across Europe from COP24 to COP25
6 December 2019 – What started in December 2018 at the COP24 with five Railways undertakings in Katowice, Poland is turning into a strong European movement composed of 15 members. Rail Freight Forward’s campaign “Noah’s Train” has been spreading its message across Europe for almost a year, and wishes to strongly reaffirm it for UN COP25 Climate Change Conference. Europe MUST increase its freight’s modal share to at least 30% by 2030. to drastically reduce the negative impact of freight transport on our planet and on mobility.
The vision of climate-friendly goods transportRail Freight Forward is a pan-European initiative. The aim is to communicate to the public in Europe that rail freight transport is an essential response to the challenge of climate change. Transport is one of the biggest sources of CO2 pollution and the greenhouse effect. Shifting freight transport to rail is the quickest and most direct way to combat even more CO2 emissions and climate pollution. There is still a lot to be done for this modal shift: We need fair competition conditions between rail and road. For example, through tax relief for traction current and clear European-wide toll rules for road transports. Further progress must be made to harmonize procedures and regulations at EU level and the reduction of interfaces at national borders. This should increase competitiveness vis-à-vis the truck, which does not have these hurdles. If not, we will never reach the climate goals of the 2016 Paris Agreement.
Rail Freight Forward (RFF) and Noah’s Train one year on
Rail Freight Forward has already made great achievements in the space of just one year. With 16 stops in cities across Europe and a total of 19 containers beautifully spray-painted with animals from all over the world, the coalition’s climate ambassador – Noah’s Train – has been spreading the message of 30 by 2030 since its launch at the COP24 last December. At over 200 metres in length, Noah’s Train has become the world’s longest mobile artwork. It has brought the RFF message to at least 1 million European citizens via traditional and social media, with an ever-increasing number of followers and supporters. Ten more European RUs joined the coalition over the course of the year; the movement is growing and momentum is building to help protect our climate by shifting more freight transport from road to rail.
About Rail Freight Forward
Rail Freight Forward is a coalition of European rail freight companies that are committed to drastically reducing the negative impact of freight transport on the planet and mobility through innovation and a more intelligent transport mix.
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.
Rail Freight Forward is a broad and continuously expanding coalition composed of rail freight operators and supported by the sector associations CER, UIC, ERFA and VDV.
Current members of the Rail Freight Forward coalition are BLS Cargo, CD Cargo, CFL Cargo, DB Cargo, GreenCargo, Lineas, LTE Group, Mercitalia, Ost-West Logistik, PKP Cargo, Rail Cargo Group, Renfe Mercancías SBB Cargo, SNCF Logistics, ZSSK Cargo.
