For over 20 years the European Union has been trying to encourage a modal shift of passengers and freight from road to rail. Andrew Goltz and Jakub Majewski discuss the impact of European Union policy and funding with some of the leading figures in Poland's railway industry and consider whether Europe's influence could have been more effective.
POLAND's largest railfreight operator PKP Cargo has announced that it is in acquisition talks with the owners of three open-access freight operators in Poland and the Czech Republic.
POLISH open-access operator CTL Logistics, Poland, carried approximately 7 million tonnes of railfreight in the first half of 2014, including 1.3 million tonnes in Germany, a fall of 8% compared with the same period in 2013.
Liberalisation of Polish railfreight has arguably been a great success, with open-access operators now controlling almost half of the market. But with high fixed costs and static volumes, the industry still faces fundamental challenges, as Keith Barrow discovers.
