Malte Lawrenz stressed the importance of prioritising the expansion and modernisation of railways for climate-friendly freight transport:
"The infrastructure we build today will determine the modal mix of the future," emphasised Lawrenz, calling on Transport Minister Volker Wissing to focus on modernising the rail system together with the industry. "We must make rapid progress in the areas of infrastructure development, digitalisation and automation if we are to achieve the market share target of 25 per cent by 2030," Lawrenz warned.
In this context, he regretted the signals coming from the "Traffic Forecast 2051" recently published by the Ministry of Transport. "Anyone who talks about a market share of 17 per cent in 2051 fails to recognise the potential of the industry and at the same time gives up the will to shape transport policy," Lawrenz criticised.
Malte Lawrenz also reported to the members on the steadily growing number of subscribers to the VPI European Maintenance Guide, the core of the association's services. There are now 557 wagon owners and workshops across Europe using the maintenance recommendations. At the same time, the number of association members has risen to a new high of 275 companies, representing a fleet of some 83,500 wagons in the European market.
