The Impact of Digitization in Industry on Freight Transport in Austria

This report describes the second phase of a project to assess the impact of digitization in the production process of the manufacturing industries on the demand for rail freight transport. The demand for freight transport services is largely determined by a country's industrial structure, industrial specialisation and trade in goods. Digitization and other technological shifts, but also short-term crisis phenomena influence this demand both in the short and long term. This analysis attempts to translate this observation into a quantitative analysis to assess the impact of digitization on the demand for freight transport services. The project and the report consist of two major parts: the first part deals with the question of which effects of digitization on the demand for goods (in foreign trade as well as in domestic demand) can be identified. In addition to digitization, economic shocks should also be examined, not least because the year 2020 was also characterised by an unforeseeable pandemic. The second part deals with the demand for transport services derived from the demand for goods, especially the demand for rail transport services and the modal split. An attempt was also made to include the influence of transport infrastructure. In a third part, the main results of parts 1 and 2 are combined in the form of a scenario model.