photo: Archive/The Collapse of Slovak Motorways Can Be Solved by Supporting Single Wagonload. Why Does the Ministry of Transport Want to Wait Until 2026?
The support for individual carload shipments is inadequate. Both carriers and experts agree on this. However, the Ministry of Transport and Construction has postponed support for Single Wagonloads until 2026, although the situation on motorways is so critical that a 3-year wait may be too long.
The rail Single Wagonload will replace up to 400,000 truck trips per year. Considering an average carrying capacity of 17.4 tonnes per truck, Single Wagonload transport, especially on class 2 to 3 roads, will prevent about 400,000 truck journeys per year. With a 60 % reverse load, it means approximately 640 000 lorry journeys per year. Despite the general support that rail transport currently enjoys in EU countries, it is surprising that rail freight transport in Slovakia is not more competitive than road freight transport, which is more widely used by companies.
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For this reason, roads and motorways face congestion, customers are held back in making necessary deliveries, and the public is put in unpleasant situations where they spend unnecessary hours on the roads. Slovak Railways has the only freight carrier in the entire network that provides transport of SGE. ZSSK Cargo transports approximately 7 million tonnes of goods annually, which helps to relieve Slovakia's congested roads.
In a recent interview with RAILTARGET, František Zaparanik, the chairman of the Railways Trade Union, revealed that the Slovak Republic lags far behind other countries in the ratio between rail and road freight transport. At the same time, he stressed that the support of the railway is crucial in this context. "It does not matter whether we receive a discount for rail transport or a subsidy for individual car shipments, as other countries do. At the moment, it doesn't matter how the support comes in, but when we compare it with the amounts that go to support green transport, we are, we can say, at the bottom of the priorities," Zaparanik said.
According to the available information, the support of Single Wagonload in Slovakia is planned only from 2026. According to the document of the Ministry of Transport and Construction, "Concept and development of intermodal transport in the Slovak Republic", there is an effort to shift and then maintain as much of the freight transport from the roads to other environmentally friendly modes of transport as possible. In the document, the Slovak Ministry also mentions the desire to maintain the traffic flows of the SGEI rail system on the railway.
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The document emphasises the prevention of a possible shift of SHS to road freight transport. The situation on Slovak motorways is very critical. Why is the Ministry waiting until 2026 to support Single Wagonload?
Roman Veverka, Chairman of the Board and CEO of ŽP EKO QELET, which processes metal waste at 22 sites across Slovakia, is also convinced of the need to support MSW. "As long as the choice of transport method is left to individual customers, they will choose a faster and cheaper route. At the moment it is car transport. There will certainly remain commodities that will continue to be transported exclusively by rail, but the aim should be to at least return to the original share of rail transport in the Slovak market. I believe that without a long-term concept of the state and subsequent support, the situation will not change significantly in the coming years," said Veverka, whose company uses the services of Single Wagonload.