Transport ups the ante on rail transport

The Ministry of Transport is trying to give a greater boost to railways with aid for sustainable and digital transport, and the new railway eco-incentive.

The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda published in 2022 the final version of the ‘Mercancías 30’ initiative, which envisages actions for more than 8 billion in infrastructures, terminals, improvements in capacity management, rail motorways, digitalisation and aid to companies to increase the share of rail freight transport from the current 5% to 10%.

The investments foreseen in the short and medium term will be financed by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the General State Budget.

In this context, on 29 April the orders were published approving the regulatory bases and the calls for aid to companies to support sustainable and digital transport included in ‘Mercancías 30’ and financed precisely by the NextGenerationEU funds within the framework of the PRTR.

Specifically, the call for competitive grants and the programme of eco-incentives for rail transport were activated in simple or non-competitive competition, based on environmental and socio-economic merit.

Firstly, the programme of support for sustainable and digital transport in competitive concurrence was articulated in several lines, with a total budget of 460 million. For example, 45 million will be earmarked for rail interoperability, 75 million for the promotion of transport intermodality, or 125 million for the modernisation of rail freight equipment.