“This shared financial responsibility highlights that PioDAC is an industry-driven project aimed at preparing the market introduction of DAC under real operating conditions, rather than a purely theoretical research exercise”, he underlined. The project is coordinated by Trafikverket and brings together railway undertakings, wagon owners, workshops, industrial partners and shippers from across Europe.

The large-scale tests

The first phase concerns the installation of roughly 500 DAC units “on approximately 250 freight wagons and 15 locomotives”, Radke said. This phase will be overseen by the VPI service company VERS, which coordinates installation on freight wagons and monitors maintenance aspects throughout the project. From 2027 onwards, DAC-equipped trains will run across Europe, carrying different types of cargo.

At the same time, economic validation and the development of a standardised rulebook are addressed within the project framework, ensuring that technical, operational and regulatory aspects are considered in parallel. The International Union of Railways (UIC) contributes to the development and refinement of the standardised rulebook, ensuring that operational experience from the project feeds directly into European-level standards.

“Large-scale means that DAC is tested in regular commercial operations, embedded in existing logistics chains and railway processes”, Radke added. “This includes cross-border services, different traction concepts, various wagon types, diverse commodities and a wide range of environmental and operational conditions.” By operating in day-to-day commercial service rather than isolated pilot settings, the Pioneer DAC Trains are expected to generate robust evidence on technical performance, operational reliability and maintenance requirements.

“Cross-border operations will take place, among others, between Austria and Hungary, Luxembourg and Germany, and Germany and Poland, complemented by domestic routes”, Radke pointed out. “The mix of operators, commodities and operating concepts is intended to ensure that DAC is tested under realistic conditions across Europe”.

What to do with the results?

“The primary objective is to demonstrate that DAC-equipped trains can operate reliably and safely in commercial service across Europe”, Radke stated. Operational and maintenance data will be systematically collected and analysed over the project duration to create a solid evidence base covering performance, robustness and cost implications. The data gathered will be used to support a coordinated, EU-wide DAC migration.

From the VPI’s perspective, such coordination is essential to avoid fragmented or nationally isolated approaches and to safeguard interoperability in European rail freight. In addition, “the intention is that the trains can continue operating beyond the project phase and remain in productive service.” At the same time, Radke stressed that the immediate priority is to use the project results as a sound technical and operational foundation for a future Europe-wide decision on the introduction of the DAC.

The safety measures come in five parts. For one, the FOT wants wheelsets to have a diameter of at least 864 millimetres. The current European standard is 860 millimetres. Moreover, the Swiss government agency wants more regular maintenance.

Maintenance intervals

“Depending on the type of brake shoes and wheel diameter, the technical inspection must be carried out after 50,000 kilometers or 200,000 kilometers. Currently, in some cases, these inspections are systematically carried out at a later date.”

As part of maintenance checks, wheels should be visually inspected and the minimum diameter checked. Checks should also determine whether the wheels have suffered heat or other damage, and a sound test should be carried out to identify defective wheels.

In the future, every freight wagon must have a valid certificate of its last technical inspection. This allows railway companies to check whether a wagon has been properly maintained before it is included in a train traveling through Switzerland.

The safety of wagon wheels has become a top issue since the 2023 derailment in the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which caused severe infrastructure damage and kept the tunnel closed for a year. The incident posed a major challenge for rail freight on this crucial route. A derailment on Sweden’s Malmbanan line was also the result of a broken wheel.

Wagon owners are furious

Many voices in the rail freight industry are now protesting the FOT’s new rules. The International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) calls it “a rogue move”. UIP points out that Switzerland primarily targets wagon owners and those in charge of maintenance.

“We deplore a one-sided view that basically relieves the other rail system actors of their duties and does not consider safety investments on the side of operations and infrastructure”, the association adds. It also points out that in the case of the Gotthard accident, the investigation found that wagon owners complied with maintenance obligations.

The Swiss rail freight association VAP concurs. “With these new measures, the Federal Office of Transport is placing disproportionately high obligations on wagon owners compared to other stakeholders.” VAP highlights the reduced maintenance intervals as particularly disruptive, because it will “massively impact the availability of freight wagons and the profitability of operations.”

The maintenance interval measure, according to VAP, will lead to short-term bottlenecks in the freight industry and harm Switzerland’s supply security. “This topic was frequently discussed in advance and at the roundtables, but surprisingly little was considered in the FOT’s decision-making process.”

The Swiss association also foresees a reverse modal shift, rail freight’s nightmare scenario, because of the additional costs.

Absurdity

Across the border, Germany’s wagon owner association VPI also sharply criticised the FOT’s new rules. It highlights similar issues as VAP and UIP, and says that the new rules ignore the results of the so-called Joint Network Secretariat (JNS), an initiative by the European Agency for Railways (ERA) that aims at EU-wide harmonisations actions following rail accidents or incidents.

“It reduces to absurdity the relevance of the work of the JNS task force, which is expected to publish its European measures by the end of the year”, UIP also says about the step taken by FOT.

Switzerland wants the measures to be fully implemented by the end of the year. VAP, UIP and VPI all question the viability of that plan. Maintenance companies already lack resources, points out VAP, and the new rules will make that situation worse. More freight wagons will be unavailable more often and for longer periods of time.

“This, too, will initially be felt primarily by the freight forwarding companies, as they will need to purchase more wagons to transport the same volume of goods. As a consequence, more and more shippers are likely to turn away from rail freight transport and transport their goods by road in the medium term”, VAP states.

An obstacle to Rhine-Alpine rail freight

Importantly, the new Swiss rules also endanger cross-European interoperability. With its unilaterally introduced measures, Switzerland deviates from common European standards. Wagon owners may have to establish wagon fleets specifically adapted to Swiss rules, adding another cost factor to the mix. With Switzerland centrally located along one of Europe’s most important rail freight corridors (Rhine-Alpine), the rules impact a key artery for international traffic.

Wagon owners’ union UIP hopes that the focus will shift onto railway undertakings (RU) and the infrastructure manager: “It is unacceptable that RUs keep scaling back their technical on-site inspections and cutting investment in staff education, especially in a system that crucially depends on rigorous controls before, during, and after train operations.”

“We would do well to remember that […] the investigation identified areas for action not only for wagon keepers but also railway undertakings and the infrastructure manager”, UIP notes.

For 2026, the Agency set this limit at 7,46 billion euros. On the other hand, Die Güterbahnen said that the 35 per cent increase requested by DB InfraGO for that year would be 7,87 billion euros, 400 million over the permitted limit. “That’s not a mistake”, the association pointed out. According to them, DB InfraGO is planning a lawsuit against the Federal Network Agency and its decision. “The negotiation of track access charges for 2026 has only just begun and is not expected to end until March 2025”, Die Güterbahnen specified.

Subsidies need to increase

Together with four other associations – VCI, VDV, VPI and Allianz pro-Schiene – Die Güterbahnen is calling (once again) for an increase in subsidies covering TAC. In its draft budget, the German federal government allocated 275 million euros for this purpose for 2025. This should cover roughly 30 per cent of the total costs faced by companies. “Up until 2023, subsidies of up to 60 percent were common”, a joint statement mentioned. The five associations are now collectively asking to bring said budget back to 350 million euros.

The association concerns stem from the fact that TAC in Germany will be 16.2 per cent higher, the largest price increase ever for the country. The rise in track access charges is due to the decision to bump DB’s “equity by 10.5 billion euros in 2025,” VPI explained. “The result would be, among other things, lower utilisation of wagon fleets and workshops – and thus an existential threat to these companies”, the association said.

Incompatibility with combined transport

The second problem highlighted by the associations is that these semi-trailers are rarely, if ever, compatible with combined transport. The sole possibility to have them fit “only a few series of simple pocket wagons” is to change the way they are currently designed. The four associations pointed out that the new design feature should include foldable underrun protection, adapted vehicle frame at the rear, and reduced interior height (2.7 metres instead of 3). However, this services are expensive, and the reduced interior height would offer a slightly lower volume that conventional 13.6-metre semi-trailers. Thus, it would still be more advantageous to use these trucks exclusively on the road.

The four associations defined this initiative as “a special German approach that undermines the standardization in combined transport that has been pushed forward in recent years”. According to them, the German government should focus on finding solutions to transfer the remaining long truck types on the railways rather than extending the option to use them. They criticise the regulation stipulating that trucks in combined transport can only carry one loading unit, whereas there are some that can carry two on the road. The current ruling coalition in Germany pledged to increase the modal share of rail from 19.8 to 25 per cent by 2030, but this latest move might be an obstacle to reaching this goal.

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Divergent visions

Since early this year, debates in Germany have focused on Transport Minster Volker Wissing’s views on Germany’s transport industry and its future. His conviction that road transport will grow more than rail until 2050 and that it should attract more investments that will also benefit business, in general, has been contested by the rail industry.

A striking part of this viewpoint concerns the fact that the transport minister of the key European country for rail, does not believe in rail so much. Another striking part is the means to communicate this disbelief. The report commissioned by the German federal transport ministry in March claiming that rail has reached its full cargo transport capacity and framing road transport as Germany’s future was received as a negative surprise.

Soon, the German rail sector worked to prove that the forecast report was ungrounded. “Forecasts are not facts. In addition, many of the forecast assumptions are not very plausible. It does not reflect the market reality and resembles the transport policy from 1983”. These were some comments of transport associations which collectively launched a fact-check study for the ministerial report.

Without getting into much detail, the fact-check study showed that the ministry’s views on transport were quite problematic and that they presented a false and preoccupied image of rail’s future. The debate is ongoing, and its result cannot be guaranteed. However, the fact that Germany needs to discuss such things indicates the lack of a clear and shared vision for the future and potential of rail.

Infrastructure for the common good

Another hot discussion topic in Germany is DB’s reform, with governmental plans to merge DB Netz and DB Station & Service into a new public-interest-oriented infrastructure division in which profits will not be associated with the mother company Deutsche Bahn. This will provide more transparency in DB’s financial whereabouts and a needed separation of the infrastructure company that could result in better management and more business-oriented solutions.

So far, so good. However, the railway industry found some discrepancies and inconsistencies in the planning, which aims to create an infrastructure entity for the “common good”. The positive thing is that the private rail sector is also included in the public debate for the reform and sees it as a great opportunity for change. However, the situation can prove tricky.

Some voices claim the plan does not include any analysis or figures of the reform’s implementation. Others wonder what common good means and say that the only good thing would be to develop rail infrastructure with the capacity to transport more people and goods. Finally, there’s a side claiming that separating infrastructure management from operations is unnecessary. In any case, this debate has much more episodes to produce.

Construction and strikes

Last but not least come two more pressing topics: construction within the German railway network impairing large parts of capacity and the looming strikes deriving from labour agreement negotiations. Germany is undergoing an extensive reconstruction programme that reduces capacity in the already heavily used network. One of the latest announcements from DB concerned the replacement of sleepers, adding 400 more construction sites on the network and substantially affecting punctuality, according to DB.

On the other hand, the possibility of strikes adds extra pressure to the situation. DB and EVG have been negotiating for months already with no concrete solution. EVG already ran a nationwide strike in March with considerable impact and called off another last minute in May. With the two sides not reaching an agreement, EVG uses strikes as a lever for DB while acknowledging the effects that they could have and thus thinking twice.

However, a new player gets in the game. Union GDL will start collective bargaining with DB in October and already presented a set of demands, which are not far from EVG’s. Considering that DB think’s that EVG’s claims are unrealistic, there is not much space for a different reaction with GDL. However, GDL was the one to launch the last wave of significant strikes in Germany back in the summer of 2021 and seems determined to insist on its demands once again.

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On top of that is conflicting, the initial promises of the German government elected in 2021 to invest “considerably more in the railways than in the roads”. The German rail industry has already criticised heavily the slow pace with which the federal government delivers its promises.

Facts speak for themselves

Apart from criticising the Federal transport minister for lobbying in favour of road investments, the four associations’ coalition stressed that facts could support the importance of rail freight transport in Germany.

For instance, Peter Westenberger, managing director of the association De Güterbahnen commented that “the performance and share of freight traffic are significantly higher than before Corona. From the current level of around 20 per cent, our companies believe that growth to 35 per cent by 2035 is possible if the federal government does its homework on the infrastructure and framework conditions”. “However, he continued, “the minister has not even looked at our proposals so far”.

GDL’s chairman Claus Weselsky said that he understands that the road’s superior capacity compared to rail seems attractive. However, this is not an excuse to invest more in road infrastructure. In contrast, he said, “all eyes should be on rail, and all resources must be used primarily by rail. Dirk Flege from Allianz pro-Schiene said that the solution is quite easy: “we have to speed up everything related to rail, and invest in roads only when it comes to renovating them”.

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Also read:

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• German government criticised for not keeping rail investment promises

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That’s what chairman Malte Lawrenz concluded at the annual symposium of VPI (the German Wagon Keepers Association). According to the chairman, these changes are necessary to reach the growth target of a 25 per cent market share by 2030.

More political involvement

At the start of the symposium in Hamburg, Lawrenz emphasised that the target can only be achieved if the sector acts quickly and decisively. “In view of the current crises, the turnaround in traffic threatens to take a back seat. We urgently need to counteract this”, Lawrenz said.

“The companies in the sector are investing in the future of rail. We expect the same from politicians,” emphasised Lawrenz. According to VPI, Germany needs rail for climate protection and to cope with the constantly growing transport tasks. More political involvement in the promotion of rail is therefore crucial. “Apart from the charging stations for e-trucks, ETCS or the DAC should also be taken into account by the Chancellery.”

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