A recent ITF/OECD study has revealed a troubling lack of progress in the modal shift from road to rail across Europe—a key objective of the European Green Deal. The Green Deal’s aim is to double rail freight transport by 2050 and increase waterborne transport by 25% by 2030. Despite these ambitious goals of the European Union, the data shows that road transport continues to dominate, while rail struggles to gain traction. This stagnation, and in some cases regression, underscores the urgent need for stronger political commitment, substantial investment, and robust policy enforcement to realise the Green Deal’s vision of a sustainable transport system. In other words, the rail sector remains underdeveloped while road transport is kept artificially cheap through extensive wage and social dumping practices that circumvent regulations. (....)