REIF

Central Europe is facing strong growth in traffic volumes. Current forecasts predict that until 2030 there will likely be a significant increase in the volume of freight moved in central Europe. In contrast, rail freight's market share of the total volume of freight moved has decreased significantly over the past few decades.

To reverse this negative trend, huge investments are underway with a focus on the main rail corridors. Complementary to this initiative the REIF project aims at increasing the modal share of rail freight transport through mitigation measures for the regional rail feeder system. In particular, REIF is tackling relevant challenges related to the lack of connectivity at regional level. 

For this purpose, partners will develop and apply tools to analyse regional potentials for rail freight transport, to identify infrastructural bottlenecks, and to carry out effective measures for either preserving vulnerable connections or even redeveloping closed tracks.

Pilot actions will test novel approaches to overcome different discontinuities of the regional rail network in the participating regions. Furthermore, the various reasons for triggering new rail services, ranging from organizational aspects to the need of ensuring a “critical mass” of traffic demand, will be investigated and transferred into regional action plans that define priorities and potential policy measures. Capacity building workshops will then train regional administrations staff to sustain knowledge about the policy field in the institutions.