The EU transport sector is one of the fastest-growing industries, with road transport accounting for over 70% of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. This heavy reliance on trucks contributes significantly to air pollution, ultimately accelerating climate change processes and increasing health risks, including cardiovascular diseases.
Rail is around 7 times more energy-efficient and emits up to 9 times less CO₂ than road transport, while also offering a significantly higher level of safety compared with other land transport modes. However, booking intermodal transport remains complex. Digital broker solutions can simplify access, enabling an easier modal shift from road to rail. By cutting road transport and fossil fuel use, this approach delivers environmental, economic, and efficiency benefits across Europe.
The LIFE Facilitating Intermodal Transport (LIFE FIT) project and Rail-Flow, the German-headquartered company behind the project, have filled that market gap by enabling an easy shift between the two transport modes. Their digital platform allows any freight forwarder to book intermodal transport across 32 countries in just a few clicks, cutting air pollutant emissions and reducing costs.
Company growth
The commercial path of Rail-Flow since the project's completion demonstrates the impact of what LIFE FIT achieved. The company has grown from a start-up into a business with over 170 employees, with legal entities in Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey. Revenue reached close to €10 million in 2025 and is expected to grow further in 2026. In December 2025, Rail-Flow closed a Series A funding round of €12.5 million led by Trill Impact, a European impact-focused private markets investor, and Bonsai Partners, a European venture capital firm specializing in high-growth technology companies. A ‘Series A’ financing round is typically the first major external investment used to scale the business in exchange for equity. The acquired funds supported the integrationintegration of another company, Simply Deliver, a Rotterdam-based technology and sales partner, and will help accelerate geographic expansion in Europe, Australia and North America, as well as further product development and the integration of AI into the platform.
LIFE FIT’s objectives:
- Build and deploy the Intermodal Capacity Broker (ICB), a digital platform enabling companies to easily find and book intermodal transport across Europe
- Reduce entry barriers to rail by offering end-to-end booking, including first- and last-mile connections, via a single digital interface
- Connect fragmented intermodal operator networks into one accessible pool, enabling collaboration among transport SMEs across Europe
- Demonstrate the cost-neutrality and, in many cases, cost advantage of intermodal transport compared with road-only operations
- Increase the share of intermodal transport for participating companies along demonstration routes
- Reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by shifting freight from road to rail
Results achieved:
- Over 9,500 individual bookable lanes across Europe available via the ICB
- 37 intermodal operators signed up, covering 32 countries with routes extending beyond the EU to Turkey and China
- A fully operational end-to-end digital platform connecting supply and demand in the European intermodal market
- 115,000 litres of diesel saved through modal shift to rail
- Energy use reduced by 15.5 million megajoules, corresponding to approximately 1,800 kg of nitrogen oxides (NOx), 500 kg of volatile organic compounds (VOC), over 500 kg of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), 100 kg of particulate matter (PM10), and about 1.5 million kg of carbon dioxide (CO₂)
- 17.6 million kilometres of road transport avoided
Cost savings of 10–20% on routes shifted from road to rail
With €3.4 million budget and €1.87 million EU co-funding, LIFE FIT’s Rail-Flow shifted freight to rail 32 countries, saving 115,000 litres of diesel, cutting costs and attracting €12.5 million investment.
Quote from the Coordinating beneficiary:
Dominik Fürste, Project Supervisor
“We used feedback from the C2M team to adjust our market approach, which made the project more successful. The C2M experts were strong sparring partners - something I can really recommend to any founder, as it broadens the solution space beyond the initial business plan."
- Project locations
- Germany