There are large differences in both speed and costs between the traffic modes road and
air. Rail has not yet successfully offered services “faster than road but cheaper than air”, although
there are technical, logistical and economical opportunities for competing with air for
intra-continental shipments and co-operate for intercontinental ones. The article categorises
segments of the European express freight market and analyses them in a rail perspective. Services
between Sweden and Continental Europe and domestically in Sweden are focused. System
modelling tools are also adapted to the application of express intermodal transport and prospective
roles for rail in express transport are defined. The analysis shows that a transport chain with many
actors and long distances does not necessarily entail longer transport times than a short-distance
with the same circumstances under a single management. The analysis also shows that many
express transport systems are built in a modular way, implying that subsystems can be exchanged