Prihláste sa na odber noviniek
The single wagonload (SWL) segment is so demanding in terms of logistics and costs that even after the opening of the European rail freight market, only the former national players are involved. This segment accounts for a third of the cargo but employs two-thirds of the workforce. While being independently unprofitable, why is it still necessary to have it?
Public Service
Railways primarily transport heavy cargo like wood, scrap, chemicals, building materials, and metals. These are often not shipped in large quantities at once but regularly. Heavy trucks carrying these materials would significantly damage road infrastructure, necessitating frequent repairs and depleting state resources from taxpayers for new highways and existing road modernisations. Slovakia's rail infrastructure is among the densest in Europe, and not fully utilising it means neglecting one already built infrastructure (rail) while destroying and constantly renewing another (road).
Another increased risk is the accident rate. Congested roads with trucks carrying dangerous goods, like chemicals, increase the risk of accidents. Rail is the safest land transport mode, and by using it, we can divert materials that pose greater risks, accidents, traffic jams, and delays for everyone.
A third and very significant element today is ecology. While companies and their customers in ecologically conscious European countries explicitly demand rail transport, Central Europe's awareness is not as strong. However, only unit trains won't be enough to achieve climate goals. A ton of cargo transported by rail emits 80% less emissions than by road. Therefore, a combination of SWL and multimodal transport must exist for sustainable functioning in the future.
How Single Wagonload Transport Works
The basic logistical principle of SWL is the hub-and-spoke model. Specific hubs are designated where single wagonload shipments and groups of wagons from a certain radius are brought. In the case of ZSSK CARGO, these are marshalling yards, where wagons from local trains are sorted to form mixed trains according to their destination. These mixed trains then travel across the country (and abroad) to another hub, where they are again sorted into local trains for their "last mile" and bring new shipments back for sorting.
The system works better the more the trains are utilised, similar to multimodal terminals, except shipments stay on rails the entire time.
Why It Doesn't Work: Simple vs. Right
One of the key conditions for this system to work is railway sidings. These tracks leading into businesses allow goods to be loaded and unloaded only once. Costs increase if goods need to be loaded onto a truck and transferred at a general station loading and unloading track to a train. Moreover, many customers think - if it's already loaded on a truck, let it go to its destination.
Another factor is the complexity of the system. A less-used system requires as many people and machines for transport as a fully utilised one. Compared to this, cheap trucks represent a more straightforward solution. Not every customer considers whether the easy solution is also the right one. It's similar to waste separation - throwing everything into one bin is easier, but we all know that separating is the right thing to do.
What Rail Can and Cannot Do with SWL
Railway discussions focus on how to reduce the costliness of SWL. Unfortunately, such steps, though available, are also associated with high costs. These include new dual-mode locomotives, digital automatic coupling (DAC), or the European Train Control System (ETCS).
Specific customers would switch to rail if it were a cheaper solution. It's often difficult to achieve this. Trucks only pay tolls on toll roads and can avoid these sections - and usually don't go by toll road to the end customers. Trains must pay for every kilometre they travel, regardless of the track location. Thus, unequal business conditions are added to the "simple vs. right" dilemma.
Therefore, ZSSK CARGO strives for change as the only operator of this service in Slovakia. Supporting SWL would make this service attractive to other carriers and could lead to an increase in this segment of rail freight, which has lost 3 million tons to the roads in Slovakia in recent years. Nearly 5 million tons of goods per year remain at stake. Moreover, most SWL shipments are international. Thus, this system needs a broader view than just a national one.
In many countries, like Poland, Spain, the UK, and Norway, SWLs have entirely disappeared from the tracks. Elsewhere, they still survive with various successes and challenges. How is this topic evolving in other countries where SWL has not been completely abolished?
Czech Republic
In Czechia, SWL transports the equivalent of 800,000 trucks annually. The infrastructure manager has been offering a discount for the transport route since 2016, and there's also a refund for the renewable resource fee included in the traction energy price, even though railways are the ecological mode of transport and trucks don't have such a fee in the diesel price.
Germany
SWL accounts for about a quarter of all goods that travel by rail. Germany approved a support scheme from 2020 to 2025. However, DB Cargo could not generate a profit and produced a record loss of 858 million euros in 2022, of which 442 million was for SWL.
German unions requested the support of an additional 300 million EUR for SWL. Political parties are considering only a third of that, 100 million. Abolishing SWL in Germany would mean 40,000 more trucks on the roads daily.
France
Annual support for SWL amounts to 70 million euros per year until 2025. This will be strengthened by another 30 million from this year until 2030.
Switzerland
SWL also drags down the results of the former national carrier in Switzerland. SBB Cargo has already reduced regional SWL service and kept only the main routes. It fights to keep goods that would otherwise mean 600,000 more truck journeys per year on Swiss roads. Goods transported include new and recycled bottles, drinks, beer, famous Swiss knives, paper, mail, salt, grains, cement, and scrap. Currently (November 2023), two proposals are on the legislative floor, one for support and the other, which would mean the end of SWL as we know it in the country - mainly maintaining support for introducing automatic coupling - DAC.
Hungary
Slovakia’s southern neighbour benefits from a state aid scheme approved by the European Union for the third year. Thanks to this, they have 7.2 million tons more cargo on the rails and 400,000 fewer trucks on the roads annually. That's 45 fewer trucks every hour throughout the year. Support for 2022 – 2025 amounts to 26 billion forints. Beneficiaries include Rail Cargo Hungária, CER Hungary, GYSEV Cargo, Eurogate Rail Hungary, with MVM Magyar Magánvasút joining in 2021 and Train Hungary and Kárpát Vasút in May 2023.
Austria
Austria is a role model for all countries in helping with SWL. Rail Cargo Group confirms that government support is what keeps this segment alive. Fluctuations in transport show that SWL is very sensitive to market changes, so the support scheme is continually reassessed. RCG, however, disagrees with the maximum support cap approved by the European Commission for "public service" like SWL.
Support measures include a scheme based on the quantity of goods transported and reducing transport route fees. Regional authorities in Salzburg, Carinthia, and Lower Austria have also introduced their own SWL support schemes, complementing federal support. So, it's not one system but a combination of several ones.
Photos: Matěj Bartoš, Andrej Rusňák, Filip Havrilčák
