Rail freight transport

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Last updated: 28 July 2026

Source: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Fachthemen/Eisenbahn/Trassenpreise/trassenpreise.html

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Logistics Concept

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Definition & Explanation

Rail freight transport refers to the commercial carriage of goods on railway lines by licensed railway undertakings (RUs). It encompasses domestic and international transport of containers, wagonload and trainload shipments, and single wagon traffic on the public rail network. Unlike road transport, rail freight requires booking track capacity from the infrastructure manager and paying track access charges (Trassenpreise). These usage fees are set by the competent regulatory authority — in Germany, for example, by the Bundesnetzagentur, which reduced track access charges for DB InfraGO by twelve percent for 2026. For intermodal transport, rail freight plays a central role as the main haul: between ports, logistics centres, and industrial areas, block trains or individual wagons are deployed. The cost structure differs fundamentally from road transport through the inclusion of track access costs, locomotive and wagon hire, and shunting fees. Infrastructure financing is a decisive factor for the reliability of rail freight operations. Not to be confused with inland waterway transport, which carries goods on waterways.

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