The Impact of Digitalisation in Industry on Freight Transport in Austria

A highly developed transport and logistics infrastructure as well as an efficient and technologically advanced logistics sector are key factors for the competitiveness of an economy. They enable the development of international value chains and the advancement of the international division of labour. The increasing spread of new digital technologies in the logistics sector and in industry is in continuous interaction with these processes. Technical progress and with it the digitalisation of production processes result in changing transport requirements, which have resulted in a decrease in demand for rail transport in favour of road transport. According to the present study, both structural and intra-sectoral changes have tended to be rail-averse in the recent past in Austria, even though – given the economic structure – the rail share in the modal split of intermediate transport demand is surprisingly high. The attempt to assess future developments reveals further challenges, but also opportunities for the railways – if they act pro-actively and in a timely manner.