2 INTERMODAL COMPETITORS AND THEIR ADVANTAGES TODAY

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1 2 INTERMODAL COMPETITORS AND THEIR ADVANTAGES TODAY During the last thirty years, the unbalanced construction of infrastructures, legislations that neither set ecology as an objective nor could cope with the unforeseen rate of growth in the overall transport sector, and the poor competitiveness of rail, allowed the balance among means of transport to clearly shift towards roads and sea, and just towards roads in passenger transport. Figure 2-1: Evolution of freight transportation in the EU. Source: Eurostat & ICAO % of tkm Road 44,5% Sea 40,4% Inland Navigation 4,1% Pipeline 3% Rail 8,0% Table 2-1: Shares in the freight transport in the EU. Source: Eurostat in [11]. In the case of freight transport, rail, waterways and pipelines kept on serving limited markets and even reducing its performance, whilst sea and road transport welcomed all the new demand after learning to fulfil the requirements of traffic through internationalisation, flexibility and generally lower prices (see figure 2-1). Therefore, although speed on long routes is higher by train, the initial difficulties at ordering a first shipment and the 22

2 information lack, as mentioned in 1.1.6, cleared the way for the road haulage. Until today, the presence of air transport is proportionally insignificant. Much more unbalanced is the development of passenger transport, as shown in figure 2-2 and 2-3, where cars enjoy a clear supremacy. Since owning a vehicle became a standard and the first motorways were built in the 1930 s, its use has been permanently increasing, condemning the traditional ways of transport to a secondary position. During this time, only aviation, apart from private vehicles, has managed to grow significantly Billion pkm Billion pkm Passenger cars Railway Air Bus & Coach Tram & Metro Passenger cars Railway Air Bus & Coach Tram & Metro Figure 2-2: Evolution of passenger transportation in the EU (linear). Source: ECMT, UIC, UITP in [11]. Figure 2-3: Evolution of passenger transportation in the EU (logarithmical). Source: ECMT, UIC, UITP in [11] % of pkm Passenger Cars 78,5% Bus & Coach 8,1% Railway 5,8% Tram & Metro 0,8% Air 6,7% Table 2-2: Shares in the passenger transport in the EU. Source: ECMT, UIC, UITP in [11]. 23

3 From the environmental point of view, the convenience of the growth or even the use of some of the means of transport can be put under question. This is clearly shown in figures 2-4 and 2-5 where, as expected, aviation and road are the less friendly kinds of transport. The high external costs on accidents of road passenger transport are unfortunately very significant. Figure 2-4: Average external costs 1995 (EU of 17) by means of transport for freight transport (without congestion costs). Source: IWW / Infras. Figure 2-5: Average external costs 1995 (EU of 17) by means of transport for passenger transport (without congestion costs). Source: IWW / Infras. 24

4 Considering the overall use of each mode of transport, road based transport causes 92% of the external costs (see figure 2-6). Car 58% Water 0% Aviation 6% Rail 2% Motorcycle 2% Bus 3% Light duty vehicles 8% Heavy duty vehicles 21% Figure 2-6: Composition of external costs of transport in EU-15, Norway and Switzerland by transport mode. Source: IWW / Infras. The convenience of boosting the use of rail, for passengers as for freight, is undeniable, and internalisation of all costs is the main tool that can set the required fair conditions for all modes, as recognised by the EU Commission on its White book Fair payment for infrastructure use of 1998 [14]. Therefore, direct environmental politics towards the principle of the causer are to be defined and applied in all countries, since a unilateral implementation would only set unequal conditions to competition. Situations like the exclusion of international aviation and shipping from the Kyoto Protocol commitments should also be prevented. Another item of great importance that must be treated to optimise the use of transport systems, far from refusing the use of cars, lorries and planes, is the sufficient and strategical location of efficient intermodal centres [2]. Although at present most of the goods transported by rail are bulk products, the fact that they are gradually less important in the overall market makes it necessary to adapt to this change and thus combine the different modes of transport to take the best out of each one. 25

5 2.1 ROADS The motorisation, the improvement and the extension of roads were some of the main changes that western countries underwent in the 20 th century. The total distance of motorways in service in Germany, for example, grew from km in 1950 to in In Europe motorways were extended from km (1980) to km (1995) (see table 2-1). Meanwhile, German population saw its car possession rate grow from 11 cars/1.000 people in 1950 to 530 in The number of lorries also augmented in a similar proportion and consequently road haulage exceeded all forecasts within short periods of time. In the European Union 412,2 billion tkm were transported by road in By 1999 the number had changed to 1318,2 tkm. Thus its share in the transport market grew from approximately a 39% in the 70 s to a current 74% [6,12, 15]. Not only the number of motorways and roads justify the growth in road traffic, also the unique driving rules and sign-posting system and the international acknowledgement of driving licenses had a main role since they built a system that from the very beginning was free of frontiers [15]. The freedom that a private vehicle entails thanks to the independence of timetables, the possibility of reaching all destinations and the speed, especially in short distances, together with comfort and misleading low costs, turn it to an indispensable tool. Additionally, road freight transport benefits from a much quicker response to the needs of customers. Table 2-3: Length of motorways in Europe. Source: [11]. Other circumstances have helped the road haulage as well: the employment of drivers from low-wage countries, resulting in social dumping, and the large number of small companies set up by drivers that evade 26

6 collective bargaining provisions and restrictions on working time. The legislation on this area seeks, for example, to limit the average driving time of a lorry driver to a maximum of 60 hours per week, whereas a locomotive driver does an average of hours [6]. Besides of that, illegal usages are barely controllable. Correcting this situation would not only set fairer conditions for railways, but also benefit the work conditions in the haulage sector. Nowadays road traffic causes almost all external costs of the transport sector since it is being used for purposes for which it is least effective, as seen in section 2, but little has been done to internalise them and so the alternatives remain uninteresting. Not in all countries is petrol charged with eco-taxes (e.g. 14.5% in Germany) and motorways with tolls, from hence the chance for low cost routes across Europe to establish and play an important part in the unfair competition with rail whilst little is done to help the environment or reduce the road traffic. 27

7 2.2 AIR Although aviation is already hundred years old, the extended use of this mean of transport did not take place until the introduction of the turbine engines, which provided good comfort, speed and reliability. Some time later, aviation improved its competitiveness in Europe through the stop of the state monopolies, the liberalization of the inner European traffic and the stop of the monopolies in ground services, becoming even more attractive [15]. Nevertheless, the success of aviation is limited to passenger services so far for the cost increase on freight is often not affordable. However, its presence in that market is also increasing (see figures 2-1 and 2-2). The growth of air traffic is based on the gradually sinking prices resulting from the competitiveness mentioned above but also from the increasing deregulation and lower costs, the indirect state subsidies to airlines and airports, the costless occupation of the airspace and the inexistent taxes on kerosene. Considering the high external costs of airplanes on the climate change, this tax exemption is more than unfair towards the other modes of transport but the fear of 'tank-filling tourism in aviation makes individual states reluctant to impose a tax. Moreover, even if it would be taxed in all Europe, this tourism at an intercontinental level or just the mere intercontinental competition could also be a risk for the European air market. At present, the new low-cost airlines offer lower prices than rail companies and, although they often fly from remote airports, their planes are always booked out whereas too many trains run empty. These airlines have proved with their products that most of the passengers do not want frills but reliability and price [7]. Railways could offer such products from such a strategic location as a central station but, at the moment, the growth of aviation is still very steep and nowadays it moves more passengers than railways do. In fact, approximately 40% of all flights are short-distance flights covering distances of less than 800 km, which could be conveniently covered by train (IPPC on [16]). Pulling these passengers to the train would save the environment from precisely the most harmful flights according to the higher average consumption per km resulting from take-off and climb-out. The construction of more high-speed lines and their connection to airports so as to substitute the connection flights is necessary for that purpose. 28

8 2.3 WATER Waterborne transport has clear restrictions that currently limit its success in the passenger market, namely speed and available destinations. Therefore it basically offers pleasure cruises and ferry connections and consequently its share is almost nil in comparison with other kinds of transport. But quite different is its position in the freight market. What are disadvantages for passengers turn into advantages for freight as very low costs. Thus the share of sea transport grows as fast as the share of roads (figure 2-1) Sea and inland waterways account together for 72,8% of the European external transport in weight and for 44,5% of the internal transport [11]. On the other hand, the high traffic density through harbours gives rail superb chances to deliver the freight to the hinterland, provided harbours are built as proper intermodal centres. Although navigation proves to be the most environmentally friendly of all transports, it also benefits from inexistent costs of the routes and exemption of tax on oil (in the case of inland waterways, [6]). 29