EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc is leading a campaign for 2018 to be the ‘Year of Multimodality’. The European Commission is planning policy initiatives and events to promote the benefits of multimodal transport.

The European Commission says multimodality – of which rail plays a central role – takes advantage of the strengths of the different modes, such as convenience, speed, cost and reliability. It can also offer more ‘efficient transport solutions’ for goods and people to ease pressure on Europe’s roads.

Fully integrated

“We are working for the #EU transport sector to function as a fully integrated system. Plenty of initiatives & events are planned for 2018!” said Ms Bulc on her personal Twitter account @Bulc_EU.

Key themes that the multimodality programme will concentrate on include: digitalisation, with a focus on e-transport documents and digital corridor information systems; economic incentives for promote multimodality, for example the revision of the Combined Transport Directive, which aims to help rail freight and other logistics providers increase their share in sustainable transport; and support for multimodal infrastructure and innovation, such as the Horizon 2020 funding project.

TEN-T Days

Events supporting Year of Multimodality 2018 include a high-level conference on European Multimodal Freight Transport in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on March 20, the Transport Research Arena event in Vienna from April 16-19 and finally the latest TEN-T Days Connecting Europe conference, in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, from April 25-27.

More information about Year of Multimodality 2018 is on the European Commission’s Transport website.