Transportation, next to agriculture and trade was one of the first areas covered by the common policy of the European Union. The consequence of dynamic socioeconomic changes and integration processes of this grouping was re-evaluation of the realized goals and investment priorities as well as development needs of different modes of transport, including rail freight.

Member states, although they have sovereign transport policies, wanting to co-create the transport system must try to follow these changes and include them in national transport policies. In this article was analyzed the goals and their impact on the functioning of the polish rail cargo market in the years 1980–2018.