TRIESTE – Fermerci has sent a letter to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and several ministers, calling for urgent measures for rail freight transport, a sector which, according to the association, is now facing a structural crisis.
The Fermerci Annual Report 2026 shows that in 2025 rail freight traffic in Italy fell to around 49.4 million train-kilometres, down 8% compared with the average for the previous three-year period. The causes indicated include the slowdown in European industry, rising energy costs, difficulties at Alpine crossings and, above all, the impact of infrastructure works linked to the NRRP.
Fermerci president Clemente Carta stresses that railway undertakings are bearing high costs due to capacity reductions, diversions and cancellations of train paths. «Freight trains are stopping not in protest, but to allow the strategic works provided for under the NRRP to be carried out», says Carta.
In its letter to the Government, Fermerci calls for compensatory measures for companies penalised by the works, the strengthening of the Ferrobonus scheme, the refinancing of the “Locomotives and Wagons” measures and the restoration of excise-duty relief on fuel used in railway shunting operations.
According to the association, without concrete measures there is a risk of a growing shift of freight from rail to road, with negative effects on traffic, emissions and European environmental targets.
