New rail industry forum

European industry and trade organisations, national railfreight customer associations and private companies have established a European railfreight customers forum in Brussels. <> explained Susanne Klunkert. spokeswoman of the Union of Industrial and Employers’ (‘on federation of Europe (Unice) in Brussels. The new foruni also wants to encourage the provision of high quality and competitively priced freight services.
Most importantly, the organisation intends to provide a venue for a constructive dialogue with infrastructure managers and rail service providers, Klunkert continued. The purpose of the platform is to make clear to rail service providers and infrastructure operators what railfreight customers expected from them in terms of quality. In 1998, railfreight’s share in the overall European transport market amounted to a mere 8%.
Members of the platform include:
• the FFE (Freight Forward Europe), a pressure group comprising the nine leading European logistics services providers ABX, Dachser, Danzas, Geodis, GeoLogistics, Kuehne & Nagel, Exel. Panalpina and Schenker,
• Clecat, Fiata’s regional committee for Europe,
• the Rail Freight Group (United Kingdom),
• the Dutch road hauliers’ association EVO (Eigen Vervoerders Organisatie)
• and private companies such as the paper manufacturer Sappi Europe and the automotive logistics services provider Ars Alt-