The market share of rail freight in Spain is currently at around 4 per cent. By 2030, the number should more than double and reach 10 per cent, as dictated by the European Union. However, these goals are still “light years away”, as the Spanish Ministry of Transport Oscar Puente claimed.
The main issue seems to be that Spanish railways will keep undergoing major upgrade projects, which will have a significant impact on available capacity over the next few years. Reaching a 10 per cent modal share of rail freight is one of the pillars of the Mercancias 30 initiative. This plan aims at making rail the backbone of Spain’s freight multimodal transport. On the other hand, Puente’s words underline that reaching such goals is far from being a certainty.
Puente pointed out that there is a significant deficit concerning Spain’s rail infrastructure which needs to be addressed, as reported by Spanish newspaper El Mercantil. However, rather than proposing alternative solutions, the Ministry listed a few of the projects that are currently underway and should boost the modal shift in the country. For example, he mentioned the project for the new rail access to the port of Barcelona, the development of the North Terminal at the port of Valencia and the improvement of rail connectivity at the port of Algeciras.
Criticism about eco-incentives
One of the ways in which Spain is attempting to increase the modal share of rail freight is the deployment of eco-incentives for rail freight operators. In October 2023, the Spanish government agreed with the European Commission (EC) not to implement road freight tolls, but to boost the modal shift in other ways, including these eco-incentives. The first tranche of 26 million euros was unlocked in December 2023, with an additional 43.5 million euros allocated in April this year.
The eligibility criteria for the fund entails that companies increase their rail freight volumes. However, the sector is pointing out that putting more goods on the railways will be challenging with all the infrastructure projects across Spain and Europe. Rather than eco-incentives, thus, the Spanish rail freight sector is asking for a compensation mechanism to make up for the losses of volumes due to railway closures. To do this, Spain has already submitted a request to the EC to set up a fund to reimburse companies losing volumes due to infrastructure works.
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