On 16 March, the European Commission adopted the new State aid Land and Multimodal Transport Guidelines and the Transport Block Exemption Regulation — a long-awaited update of the EU State aid framework for sustainable transport. These new rules replace the 2008 Railway Guidelines and aim to support a shift towards more sustainable transport modes, including rail and multimodal transport, in line with the EU’s climate objectives.

We are pleased to see that the Commission drew on the findings of our impact assessment support study for DG Competition, prepared by a consortium led by E.CA Economics. Our cooperation partners in the consortium included the University of East Anglia, LEAR, and Sheppard.

Our study highlighted key structural challenges in the rail freight sector:

• a persistently low and stagnating modal share of rail freight
• insufficient and congested infrastructure
• an ageing rolling stock fleet
• limited competitiveness of rail compared with road transport

It also set out concrete policy options on how State aid can support a modal shift — including investment in infrastructure, modernisation of rolling stock, and targeted operating aid to improve competitiveness.

These insights are reflected in the new framework, which introduces more flexible rules for investment and operating aid, supports interoperability and digitalisation, and facilitates access to finance for new and smaller market participants.

Our article, which won the Antitrust Writing Awards, provides a concise overview of the key findings and policy recommendations: Link

Congratulations to the E.CA team — Malte Jeschonneck, Luca Rancati and Francesca Urzi, led by Elzbieta Glowicka and Anselm Mattes.