Maritime Trade and Transport - HWWI

6.2.2 Harmonizing and privatizing the rails
As mentioned above, rail transport offers considerably better options than trucks for the future
in regard to both environmental aspects and the growing capacity bottlenecks on the roads. In
view of this, it is the stated goal of EU transport policy to foster this mode of transport, too.
An essential prerequisite for this is the EU-wide deregulation and harmonization of rail
transport policy. Rail freight markets will therefore be opened as of January 1, 2007, after
which all companies in EU member states will be able to offer their freight transport services
in the individual national railroad markets, using the respective rail networks. By 2010, crossborder
free passage will be ensured for the entire European rail freight transport network
(150,000 km). However, there still are numerous obstacles to surmount before the desired complete
interoperability among infrastructures, vehicles and crews within the EU can actually be
achieved. Not least, there are the financial aspects. The EU will have to meet costs amounting
to tens of billions of euros just for the technical coordination.
A model for a uniform European railroad system can – at least in part – be provided by developments
in the USA. There rail freight transport accounts for approximately 40% of the
modal split. Apart from the totally different geographic realities, two approaches here provide
guidance for the future. First, the USA has a separate rail network for freight transport, whereas
freight trains on this side of the Atlantic generally have to yield to the faster passenger
trains, resulting in delays or a reduced overall speed. Second, the – private – U.S. railroad companies
have consciously catered to the interests and needs of industry.
For Europe, this means, first, that the creation of a trans-European rail corridor either solely
for merchandise traffic or with precedence for freight trains must be fostered. The second
conclusion, especially interesting to investors, is that rail transport companies will for the most
part be privatized by the end of our forecast period, thus subject to domestic and international
competition. In Germany, plans for the Deutsche Bahn to go public (2008) already indicate
a radical change in rail transport. It has not yet been finally decided, however, whether this
IPO will include the rail network, or whether the tracks and railroad stations will continue to
be publicly owned.
To better integrate railroads in the forwarding agents’ transport chain, railroad operators will
progressively incorporate shipping or logistics companies through acquisitions and/or alliances.
A number of privatizations have already occurred in regional transport, including compre -
hensive intramodal holdings. In 2001, BASF and two logistics companies, Bertschi Hoyer and
VTG-Lehnkering, established rail4chem as the first major rail freight service company alongside
the traditional railroads. Since the middle of 2002, IKEA has been delivering goods to
its German central warehouse in Duisburg through its subsidiary IKEA Rail AB. In all of
the countries they traverse, the trains are operated by private suppliers, which in turn have
formed a consortium (Rail Transport Team). In Sweden this is TGOJ Trafik AB, in Denmark
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