CER records a decrease in rail freight across Europe
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure (CER) has recorded a decrease in the performance of rail services in the second quarter of 2012.
In a comparison between 2011 and 2012’s second quarter results, the CER’s data shows a decrease of both passenger services and rail freight in all regions across Europe.
Rail freight traffic in Europe had been recovering steadily since the economic crisis of 2008. However, the since the economy has started contracting at the beginning of 2012, so has the rail freight sector.
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The performance of the European rail freight market decreased by 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012 and 7.8 percent in the second quarter of 2012 compared to the same period in the previous year. During this period, the rail freight sector shrank by more than industrial production, which decreased by 1.3 percent and 1.8 percent* respectively. For the first six months of 2012, rail freight traffic in Europe decreased by 6.9% in Europe.
CER Executive Director Libor Lochman commented: “The decline of the rail freight sector across Europe shows the difficult economic conditions in which rail freight companies must operate today. Likewise, the decline of the rail passenger sector in CEEC shows that rail passenger operators must be compensated adequately for public service obligations in order to be able to operate effectively during these economically difficult times.”
* Industry Production Index, Eurostat November 2012
