Learn about the “Goods on the train” campaign, which calls for the transport of goods by rail

The objective of this initiative is to value the transport of goods by rail and to be able to move more freight to the train to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions from the land transport sector in our country.

This travelling project started in Spain in 2021, after having already been launched in Germany or the United Kingdom, on the occasion of the “European Year of Rail” and it has already been through Valencia, Alicante, and Barcelona.

 The town hall square of Valencia was the centre of the main activities of the first day of the Goods on the train campaign. This location is where the large green container protagonist of this initiative was placed to convey the main messages of the campaign to the population, and various activities were carried out around it.

Many authorities gathered to support this European initiative that seeks to raise awareness about the need to create a supply chain free of CO2 emissions, where the train is the backbone. Transporting goods by rail reduces CO2 by up to 80%. It reduces external costs by up to 50%, resulting in fewer deaths on the roads and it consumes 6 times less energy.

Nowadays less than 4% of goods travel by train in Spain. According to the projections, there will be 30% more goods transported by 2030. If no action is taken, those goods will also continue to be moved by road, and therefore there will be 30% more CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. For this reason, the campaign aims to promote the combination of the train and the truck, the first one for long distances, and the second one to reach the customer’s door. This type of intermodal transport is key to reducing CO2 emissions from the transport sector, which today account for 27% of the total in Spain.

The event in Valencia was attended by, among others, Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, the Government Commissioner for the Development of the Mediterranean Corridor, Josep Vicent Boira, the Deputy Mayor of Valencia, Sandra Gómez or the General Director of Planning and Evaluation of the Railway Network, Casimiro Iglesias Pérez.

The city of Valencia was chosen as a starting point due to its strategic location as an international logistics node and also to focus on the Mediterranean Corridor, one of the ten main infrastructures of the Trans-European Transport Network (TENT-T).

The next stop took place in November in the city of Alicante. The presentation of the campaign included the visit from Ximo Puig, president of the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencia Regional Government), an essential area for exports of diverse articles and products such as fruits and vegetables, toys, cars, among others, which will be very important in the design of future and more sustainable logistics chains.

Rail Live 2021 had a stand within the campaign “Goods on the train” where it brought together professionals from more than 70 countries, who met at the sector fair, with the important role that freight railway will have in the future of sustainable transport and it offered the opportunity to join the campaign in Spain as sponsors or collaborators to those companies or institutions that wished to do so.

The president of Adif, María Luisa Domínguez González, and the Minister of Transport of the Community of Madrid, David Pérez García, among other personalities, expressed their support of the campaign “Goods on the train” during their visit to the stand.

The last stop of the campaign has been the city of Barcelona. The Port of Barcelona hosted a conference in which more than 10 speakers discussed climate change and how intermodality can be key to combating it. It was also the location chosen to position the emblematic green container, flagship of the campaign, which for the first time hosted an exhibition inside it. This stop was attended by a multitude of personalities including Damià Calvet i Valera, President of the Port of Barcelona, and Xavier Flores García, Secretary General for Infrastructures of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of the Spanish Government.

During the three days in which the “Goods on the train” container was  exhibited, not only could a freight container be seen at street level, outside its usual location, but it was also possible to access its interior, where visitors could find an exhibition open to the public and free where they could find out about the advantages of transporting goods by rail through images and a brief but shocking film about the importance of this medium in the ecological transition.

The “Goods on the train” container not only carried sustainability on its exterior with its message, but it also purified the air of the place where it was installed with the paint that covers it.

This decontamination is possible thanks to a range of intelligent paints that combines aesthetic and protective solutions and that, in addition, forms a clear, lasting, and fine mineral film of 40 nanometres that provides durability, cleanliness and air purification.

It does so through photocatalysis, nature’s own principle to achieve decontamination.

Throughout 2022 the campaign will visit more Spanish cities that will be announced soon.

 A campaign with great support

The campaign has been very well received by companies and institutions that see in the train the solution to decarbonise transport.

It has been promoted by the railway company DB Cargo and its arrival in Barcelona has been sponsored by its subsidiary in Spain, Transfesa Logistics, as well as Port de Barcelona, Eurocontainer, Ermewa and Medway.

Other organisations collaborating in the campaign include: Renfe Mercancías, Puerto de Valencia, Stadler Valencia, Adif, Anecooc, Ayuntamiento de Valencia, AM FRESH Group, the European Parliament, the Spanish Railways Foundation, the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility of the Generalitat Valenciana, Martinavarro, Logitren, Low Cost Rail, Rail Equip, Railsider Logistics, Rail Live, SanLucar, The Climate Reality Project Europe,  Tobsine España S.L., VTG, Puerto de Alicante, Mafex, ECODES, Equimodal, J. Lanfranco, IN-MOVE, by Railgrup, Navlandis and TMS.

The initiative is open to all businesses, organisations or non-profit associations that want to get on the sustainability train by collaborating or promoting the campaign at its different stops to raise awareness of the importance of increasing the share of transport of goods by rail in the fight against climate change. If you would like to join this initiative contact: comunicacion@transfesa.com.