Austria among the EU leaders regarding its rail freight share

Austria ranks third in the EU behind Latvia (76.6%) and Lithuania (65.0%) with a rail freight share of 31%. The share of rail freight traffic in the remaining EU countries is currently as low as 17 percent in average. This was reported by the Austrian Transport Club (VCÖ) in a recent publication. It puts Austria in a good position compared to the EU and saves the environment a lot of CO2 emissions through rail transport.

0.9 million tons of CO2

ÖBB is Austria’s largest climate protection company. Transport by environmentally friendly rail protects our climate. The Rail Cargo Group transports around 83 million tonnes of goods in and through Austria every year. Rail freight transport thus saves the environment 0.9 million tonnes of CO2 (Source: Federal Environment Agency) – or a continuous queue of trucks that would travel twice around the world.

Contribution to climate protection

As reported by VCÖ, greenhouse gas emissions from road freight transport have more than doubled in Austria since 1990, rising by 28 percent in the EU. Truck traffic is responsible for 44 percent of road traffic emissions in Austria. Road transport generates 15 times as many greenhouse gases per tonne and kilometre transported as rail freight transport. In Austria, more than 90 percent of the energy required for rail freight transport comes from renewable energy sources. Rail transports therefore make an active contribution to environmental protection and sustainability.