Nine European rail transport associations and intermodal system, together with 22 national associations in the sector including the Italian companies FerCargo and Fermerci, have signed a Joint Statement against the introduction on EU roads of European Modular Systems (EMS), vehicles that can exceed the 25 meters long. In the document, recalling that the revision in Act of the European Directive on Vehicle Weights and Dimensions which is the subject of negotiations between Parliament, EU Council and Commission, should aim to promote the adoption of zero-emission road vehicles in a fully aligned with the objectives of EU climate policies and transport, while protecting road and transport infrastructure, safeguarding rail freight transport and transport combined, the associations noted that, 'however, the current positions of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council include all elements that risk opening the leads to a wide spread of longer and heavier vehicles, the so-called European Modular Systems ("megatrucks" or "gigaliner"). This, they denounced, is is a source of serious concern and is at odds with both the interests of EU citizens and with the objectives of a of interoperable and intermodal European transport".

In particular, according to the signatories of the declaration, "the legislative text currently under negotiation in the Trilogue does not adequately address potential negative impacts the proposal on modal shift, intermodal terminals, on road safety, on the wear and tear of infrastructures, on the congestion or interoperability between the transportation. It also risks undermining legal coherence introducing substantial changes to the Weights and Dimensions Directive without treating it in parallel with the Transport Directive (CTD), despite the fact that the two dossiers are inherently connected".

The associations then recommended the European institutions to establish a robust framework for the use of vehicles zero-emission commercial networks compatible with intermodality, ensuring that any further stress on the road infrastructure is reduced to a minimum and strictly proportionate to the weight of the technology, to ensure the full Vehicle compatibility and interoperability commercial road transport with other modes of transport, enabling door-to-door intermodal freight transport without solution of continuity, to introduce impact assessments ex-ante and ex-post complete, supported by rigorous monitoring and weight enforcement, to effectively manage the transition to a more efficient European transport system efficient, resilient and performing, to allocate revenue resulting from penalties for violations of weights and dimensions to sustainable and combined transport, as proposed by the European Parliament, and to create a European information framework that provides operators with the operational clarity needed to plan and operate efficiently through different modes transport and cross-border transport.

The nine signatory European associations are: AERRL (Association of European Rail Rolling Stock Lessors), CER (Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies), ECF (European Cyclists Federation), ERFA (European Rail Freight Association), ETCS (European Transport Safety Council), RFF (Rail Freight Forward), UIC (International Union of Railways), UIP (International Union of Wagon Keepers) and UIRR (International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport).