Opinion: Rail freight stagnation

Although the most recent rail freight traffic figures published by the Office of Rail and Road, for the quarter between April and June 2024, reveal a year-on-year increase of 7% in net tonne kilometres (ntkm) hauled, it remains below the figure recorded five years ago.

Within the total of 4.18 billion ntkm, maritime intermodal movements serving rail-connected ports and inland distribution centres remained the largest component, making up 33.7% of traffic.

But there was a small decline in activity compared with a year ago. And the same applied to conveying construction materials, which is the second largest category (33.5% of what is hauled).

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