Today, at the CNEL headquarters in Villa Lubin in Rome, Fermerci Association presented its 2026 annual report which points out that, for the third consecutive year, all the indicators indicate a reduction in traffic volumes rail freight. In 2025, in fact, rail cargo has lost about 3.5%, in terms of trains/km (49.9 million compared to to 51.2 million in 2024) and, after the peak of 53.8 million Train-km in 2021, the new drop confirms a negative series started in 2022 with an overall reduction of approximately -7.8% over the three-year period 2022-2025. The same decrease is was also recorded in rail freight traffic originating and destination in national ports and in all Italian freight terminals and private terminals (approximately -3% in 2025 compared to 2024 and -7% compared to to 2022.

The report specifies that it appears more stable the trend in tonne-km, which in 2025 stood at about 22.6 billion, with a smaller decrease than to previous years. The document specifies that this trend signals an improvement in the efficiency of the system, but is not sufficient to compensate for the overall reduction in volumes transported

In his speech, the president of the Fermerci Association, Clemente Carta, highlighted that "urgent policies are needed to support railway undertakings and overcome a crisis that lasts for too long now. Far from modal rebalancing - he underlined - the study shows that the resources allocated in the years have only served to partially maintain the level of volumes. All current contingencies such as: works on the railway network, geopolitical tensions and disruptions of Alpine passes have damaged in recent years. If we add to this the uncertainty of the coming months and the absence, at the moment, of resources necessary for the sector, the damage will be irreversible. The incentives - said Carta - are an instrument of the policy of transport at the service of the community and industry national and are to be considered investments that cause positive externalities in environmental, economic, social and industrial ".

The president of Fermerci then took the opportunity to relaunch the invitation received from the president of CNEL on the occasion of of the Mercintreno 2025 Forum: "I welcome - explained Carta - the proposal by President Brunetta to use the power of legislative initiative of the CNEL to help a sector that has been years is in crisis. I therefore suggest working on a proposal of law to support railway logistics. The same must contain, in addition to incentive measures, simplification and rules giving rail freight transport the necessary space on the railway network and the right importance in transport policies".