Fermerci Reports 8.1% Drop in Italian Rail Freight

ROME – Italy’s rail freight traffic fell 8.1% in the first half of 2026 to 23.7 million train-km, according to operators’ association Fermerci. The volume was 25.8 million train-km in the same period of 2025, meaning more than 2 million train-km were lost in six months. Fermerci attributes the decline mainly to closures and traffic restrictions on the Italian network caused by infrastructure works funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).

What Happened and What Is the Scale of Impact?

Italian rail freight traffic dropped from 53.8 million train-km in 2021 to 49.4 million in 2025, and the 2026 first-half trend could reduce annual volume to about 45 million train-km, a level last recorded in 2015. The newly published H1 2026 figure of 23.7 million train-km compares with 25.8 million train-km in H1 2025. Fermerci said the decline is more severe than anticipated, with trains diverted, cancelled or forced onto longer routes while time slots are reduced by simultaneous construction works. FS Logistix, the freight and logistics division of FS Italiane, reported a 12% traffic fall in H1 2026, according to a joint union statement, though the unit of measurement was not specified and therefore cannot be compared directly with Fermerci’s train-km data.

Key Incident Data

How Does This Compare to Similar Incidents on This Network?

Italy’s rail freight volume was flat in 2024 compared with 2023, while Italian road freight grew by 5.2% in the same year (Source: Upply, 2025). The 8.1% H1 2026 decline is more than double the 3.5% full-year drop recorded in 2025 on the Italian network. On the Swiss transalpine corridor, rail freight fell below a 70% modal share for the first time in a decade in March 2026, showing that construction and capacity constraints are affecting rail freight beyond Italy (Source: RailFreight.com, 2026).

Editor’s Analysis

The contraction in train-km collides with Italy’s policy incentives for modal shift, including Ferrobonus and Marebonus, and with projections that the Italian rail freight market will grow at a 5.0% compound annual rate to EUR 567.3 billion by 2035 (Source: Upply, 2025). If PNRR construction continues to erode network access without compensation or path protection, the policy goal of moving freight from road to rail may become harder to restore after the works end. The risk is that lower frequencies and reliability losses push shippers back to road, where volumes grew 5.2% in 2024, compounding the modal shift reversal.

FAQ

Q: How much did Italian rail freight traffic fall in the first half of 2026?
A: It fell 8.1%, from 25.8 million train-km in H1 2025 to 23.7 million train-km in H1 2026, according to Fermerci.

Q: Why is Italian rail freight traffic declining?
A: Fermerci identifies closures and traffic restrictions on the Italian network caused by NRRP-funded infrastructure works as the main cause, leading to diversions, cancellations and fewer freight paths.

Q: What is Fermerci asking the Italian government to do?
A: Fermerci is calling for swift support measures and a multi-annual recovery plan with sufficient funding, warning that the decline risks becoming structural.