On 3 October 2024, the Hungarian Railways 2024 Conference was held for the 16th time, organised by Hungrail. It is the largest conference in the railway sector, bringing together companies, managers and decision makers related to railways and rail freight. As a Gold Level sponsor, Dr. László Guba, CEO of CER Hungary Zrt. gave a presentation on "Factual modal shift - How to shift freight to rail?"
"Hydrocarbons are all around us, they are a priority for all of us. We only have to think of oil and natural gas derivatives, or in agriculture the raw materials used for fertiliser production.
In the logistics of these products, all modes of transport are involved, with varying degrees of importance, of course, but we are looking at them from our own point of view: that of the railways.
In the last few years, there have been major changes in this area, just think of geopolitical events (war, blocking of pipelines) and technological innovations in the energy sector. The flow of the commodity base has changed, the supply chain has changed, the area of use has changed, but what has not changed is the need for transport, because these hydrocarbons originally are not located where they are produced, processed and then used.
The transport of dangerous goods is an important part of rail transport activity, and the place of hydrocarbon derivatives is essentially on the railways, from a quantitative, environmental and safety point of view. It is important to look at international trends, because it is now clear that alternative propulsion, a new type of fuel (hydrogen), is rapidly being incorporated into the transport sector, and new transport needs are emerging on the market to produce it.
The railways are therefore not unfamiliar with these types of freight, but preparing for the transport of alternative fuels or just other types of materials is a major task (knowledge base development & personnel training, development of rail and intermodal equipment), because otherwise it can easily fall behind the alternative of road", said the CEO of CER Hungary Zrt during his presentation.