Private rail freight is the “hidden champion”

As part of an national study about the “railway country” Austria, commissioned by the railway assocation of the Economic Chamber (WKO), the Economica institute examined, among other things, the economic performance of ÖBB and private rail freight companies.

On October 4th, Norbert Hofer, Minister of Transport Innovation and Technology, Silvia Angelo, Board Director of ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG, and Andreas Mandl, Chairman of the WKO association for freight, presented the results together with the author of the study Dr. Ing. Christian Helmenstein.

The study examined the largest private companies engaged in rail freight transport, predominantly in block train transport (CargoServ, ELL Austria GmbH, Lokomotion Austria GmbH, LTE Logistics and Transport GmbH, Styria Transport and Logistics GmbH, TX Logistik Austria GmbH, Vienna Local Railways Cargo GmbH).

The private rail freight business was able to increase its market share in traffic volume from 29.1 per cent in 2016 to 30.2 per cent in 2017. Another important player in private rail freight transport are private freight wagons, which are essential for railways and the loading industry to supplement their fleets.

“Without private market participants – freight operators, connecting lines, holders of rail freight cars – and their investments in rolling stock, rail freight transport would not be possible in today’s extent and efficiency,” explains Andreas Mandl, chairman of the WKO Freight Transport Committee. “If the Austrian railway network is a skeleton, then freight traffic is the backbone,” he points out.

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