The Aragon Government wishes to continue supporting the rebirth of the rail freight sector by encouraging all companies, both public and private, to continue gaining in intermodality and, therefore, competitiveness and quality of service to become a national reference through the work promoted by Aragón Logistic Platforms (APL), This has been one of the themes the Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment, Marta Gastón, described at the end of this morning’s session on “Intermodal rail freight as a competitiveness factor in transport: the case of Aragon”, held at the Pignatelli Building Crown Hall (Sala de la Corona) and organised by the Regional government executive and Association of Private Railway Companies (AEPF).
Councillor Gastón recalled that logistics excellence is one of the hallmarks of our Community and was therefore pleased to receive private railway companies and Spanish port representatives at the Aragon Government headquarters, as other key components in the resurgence of rail freight traffic in Aragon.
In addition to the Zaragoza Maritime Terminal (TMZ) -whose impulse and development was one of the features of the first talk of the day, given by the APL manager, Francisco de la Fuente – the endowment of intermodal terminals in the Community has helped Aragon to become a reference for the sector. Gastón mentioned the Monzón Intermodal Terminal, the one managed by JCV in Plaza and others planned, such as the one in Plhus in Huesca and the expansion in Platea.
The final intention of this joint effort embodied in APL is, according to the Minister, the definitive impulse of rail freight, which has been in decline since the 1960s, and to replace the gauge which, although flexible and competitive, has led to uncontrolled modal distribution difficult to maintain from the environmental point of view.
In addition, Gastón highlighted the objective of extending rail freight traffic from Aragonese terminals to the continent: first in Europe and then towards the opening of new markets in countries with great potential, such as Russia and China. Finally, she stressed the commitment of the Aragon Government to accompanying the economic agents in the sector to continue gaining competitiveness in the Community.
Before the closing speech from the Minister, De la Fuente explained that one of the priority objectives in APL is the promotion of the aforementioned public-private collaboration to transfer the success materialised in the TMZ to the platforms of Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel, because “the infrastructure is important but even more so is proper management and a joint strategy.”
