On May 7 Noah's will stop in Rome.
Promoting and encouraging rail freight transport to reduce CO2 emissions into the environment and increase the market share of the sector to 30% by 2030.
With these objectives in mind, as part of a comprehensive European tour, Noah's Train - a special freight convoy consisting of wagons and containers provided by the railway operators involved in the initiative, painted by street artists with images of animals inspired by the world's oldest story about environmental rescue and preservation - stopped at Roma Tiburtina station in Italy today.
Noah's Train Journey
Noah's Train began its journey through Europe in December 2018 from the city of Katowice (home of the 2018 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP 24), before travelling to Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Rome.
The event in Rome
The train was welcomed by Sergio Costa, Minister of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, Gianluigi Castelli, Chairman of the Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer (UIC) and President of the FS Italiane Group, Marco Gosso Managing Director of Mercitalia Logistics (FS Italiane Group), Gian Paolo Gotelli, Managing Director of Mercitalia Rail (Polo Mercitalia - FS Italiane Group), Giorgio Zampetti, General Manager of Legambiente and Sandra Gehenot, Freight Director UIC.
“Noah’s train travelling through Europe, with colorful coaches, brings around a very important message: to reduce CO2 emissions and fight climate change we need to move freight traffic from road to rail. Rail transport emits 9 times less CO2 than road transport, an important contribution from this sector”, states Sergio Costa, ministry of Environment.
“The rail sector can play a key role in the challenge of decarbonising transport, which as a whole generates 27% of emissions in Europe”, said Gianluigi Castelli. “Noah's Train, which stopped today in Rome, is the symbol of this challenge and of the entire railway sector's ambition to increase the share of rail freight from the current 17% to 30% by 2030. Rail transport has an undisputed record in terms of safety and sustainability (-90% of emissions compared to road transport), but drastic and courageous decisions are needed from policymakers, especially at a supranational level, for example in the key area of interoperability. Railway companies are ready to play their part, investing in greener and more sustainable locomotives and wagons, seizing the opportunities of digital convergence and developing increasingly efficient transport systems”. “The FS Italian Group – continued Castelli – is committed to supporting and maximizing the benefits of rail transport to reduce the negative impacts on the atmosphere as much as possible. Freight transport plays a fundamental role in our sustainability and environmental strategies. For example, a few months ago, with the Polo Mercitalia, we launched a new high-speed freight transport service, Mercitalia Fast, which will take around 9,000 trucks off the main Italian motorway artery (A1 motorway) every year. Shifting freight traffic from road to rail is one of the most important strategic objectives of the FS Italiane Group and we can achieve this by focusing on customer satisfaction and increasing our reliability”.
Background
Noah's Train is an initiative by Rail Freight Forward, a coalition of 18 European railway companies operating in the logistics and freight transport sector, including Mercitalia Rail, the largest rail freight company in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. The coalition was set up to highlight and enhance the environmental and social benefits of rail compared to road transport. In fact, transporting people and goods by train has up to nine times less impact in terms of CO2 emissions and up to six times more energy efficiency than transporting by road. Moreover, rail transport helps to relieve road traffic congestion, significantly reducing the rate of accidents and deaths. For example, by providing more than 90,000 trains in 2018, Mercitalia Rail was able to take about 1.5 million trucks off the road.
What's next
After the stop in Rome, Noah's Train will continue its journey to Leipzig for the International Transport Forum 2019 (22 May), then back to Vienna for the Austria World Summit (28-29 May) and the Transport Logistic show in Munich (4-7 June).
