摘要：Rail freight transport plays an important role in creating a sustainable and competitive transport market, but has lost ground to other competing modes of transport, particularly road. The freight market is driven by a mix of external influences, including spatial planning, the decline of bulk traffic such as coal, and the arrival of a competent, aggressive and commercially competitive alternative. Transport demand is evolving, both in terms of cargo characteristics and customer requirements, and will continue to change in response to industrial and consumer needs. For example since the 1970s, containerised/unitised cargo and door-to-door (rather than terminal-to-terminal) transport service have become widely accepted, normal phenomena. Rail has been slow to respond to such changes, for example by failing to co-operate with transport chain partners to offer a door-to-door service. Consequently rail has lost market share. National rail policies across Europe have been set by governments and increasingly focused on cost containment and network contraction. Recognising this, a wide-ranging series of measures has been instigated by the European Commission, to turn the position of rail freight into a more attractive and competitive offering and this work is ongoing and evolving. The four articles in this topical collection address these issues and propose future developments in rail freight.
