TRIESTE – European combined transport recorded an unexpected 4.9% decline in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. This is highlighted by the Quarterly Combined Transport Performance Gauge of UIRR (International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport), which identifies railway infrastructure chaos as the main driver of the contraction.
The volume losses recorded in 2025, mainly in Germany due to the total closure of lines managed by DB InfraGO, continued in the first months of 2026. UIRR denounces a “chaotic infrastructure”: intermodal freight trains were not given sufficient diversion options around fully closed railway sections in Germany and other European countries. Alternative routes, often hundreds of kilometres longer and technically less suitable for freight transport, generated additional operating costs that were not compensated.
Europe’s economic weakness has aggravated the situation. Reduced demand has freed up road transport capacity, facilitating a reverse modal shift towards road haulage among shippers. However, UIRR notes that combined transport is less exposed to the energy crisis than diesel-dependent road transport, as it runs predominantly on electricity. State aid for truck transport, together with persistent railway infrastructure constraints, has limited the intermodal sector’s ability to attract greater long-distance volumes from the road.
Sector sentiment has turned slightly negative for the next 12 months. The main concerns relate to the worsening condition of railway infrastructure, weak economic growth and difficulties in the maritime supply chain. Despite the contraction, the sector remains active: 399 new intermodal wagons have been put into service in Spain, including 80- and 90-foot wagons for containers and T4000 wagons for semi-trailers. Interest is growing in the rail transport of semi-trailers between Ukraine and Europe, driven by driver shortages and war-related uncertainty.
UIRR welcomed the amendments to the TEN-T Regulation (Trans-European Transport Network), considering it necessary to upgrade main lines and terminals to the technical parameters required for all forms of rail intermodal transport.
