Our transport system is on the verge of burnout – not only in Austria, but throughout Europe. Every day the roads are getting narrower. By 2030, freight volumes are expected to increase by as much as 30%. What is frightening is that 75% of all freight traffic is handled by road. Today, freight transport already accounts for almost a third of total transport emissions. For our environment, for the climate, for all of us, these are not good forecasts. We must therefore make every effort to shift this growth from the roads to the environmentally friendly railways.

Vision: 30 to 2030

This alarming increase in road freight transport must be avoided. It is therefore also the aim of the European Union to increase rail's share of the total freight transport market from 18% to 30% by 2030. After all, road transport by truck causes 21 times more CO2 than transport by train. Because only with conscious mobility can the burnout in the offing be prevented. Traffic is also the biggest and at the same time the most effective lever for saving CO2. This is why the leading European freight railways have launched the "Rail Freight Forward" initiative. The aim is to make it clear how sustainable freight transport can be. A campaign to raise awareness was launched in mid-December at the COP24 world climate conference in Katowice, Poland. Inspired by the oldest history of environmental protection, Noah´s Train – our climate ambassador – took off there. He is the symbol for making freight transport more sustainable and climate-friendly. His next stop: Vienna. On 14 January the train was ceremoniously received and bid farewell at Vienna's Westbahnhof station by Federal President Alexander van der Bellen, Federal Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology Norbert Hofer, ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä and the international CEOs of the Rail Freight Forward Initiative. His next stations: Berlin, Paris and Brussels. Equipped with green containers, the train is continuously transforming itself into the longest mobile work of art. Because at each stops, two containers are each designed with animal motifs by local artists. And so the colourful train is synonymous with lower emissions, reduced energy consumption and green mobility.