News / €1bn cash injection to boost Czech rail network and promote modal shift

Photo: HHLA/ Thies Raetzke

Europe’s Investment Bank has agreed to inject close to €1bn into the upgrade of the Czech Republic’s railways, as part of a major “greening” initiative.

The EIB loan, its largest to the Central European country, will be handled by Správa železnic, Czechia’s national railway infrastructure administrator, as it looks to retrofit the trans-European networks (TEN-T) railway lines.

EIB VP Kris Peeters said: “We expect the increased quality of rail to promote a modal shift from road, reducing negative impacts of transport on the local environment.

“Decreasing emissions means the project contributes to sustainable transport in line with EU objectives. In addition, better and more rail connections will facilitate access to EU Cohesion Priority Regions, thus supporting regional development.”

Energising this focus on rail has been the marked increase in volumes originating in China and now moving across the continent.

China Railway Group noted that, by July, volumes carried had risen 27% on the same seven-months a year earlier, with more than 1.08m teu being carried, a lot of this activity going into Germany.

Funding improvements to the Czech Republic’s rail network builds on an EU pledge last month to pump some €7bn into rail and road infrastructure projects across the bloc. It adds to the €5.4bn already available, although with 77% of this spent on rail, despite the mode accounting for just 5.5% of movements, it had put some industry backs up.

Furthermore, an annual EC report on the state of rail freight shows that, at 5.5%, the percentage of cargo moved by rail had fallen compared with the 7.8% moved in 2018.

For SME hauliers, the focus on rail has been particularly concerning, several having told The Loadstar they felt governments were sacrificing “those with the smallest shoulder to the green altar”.

One UK-based trucker said the problem was that “the green lobby see it in much simpler terms” and refused to engage with the reality of “greening” vehicles for smaller operators.

But the European Parliament has shown the capacity to improve road haulage, having this year reopened negotiations on improving safer parking for truckers across the continent.