Rail Infrastructure On Track For Europe: Dinner event on the future of rail and its funding
Ahead of the EU elections, CER put forward in its Manifesto “On Track for Europe” the sector's vision for well-functioning rail passenger and freight services supported by high-capacity rail infrastructure. Regenerating and increasing the European rail network, as well as making it more digital and more interoperable, are key to delivering a better connected and more resilient Europe. Rail's potential is great but so are the investments required.
From completing the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) to connecting Europe's major cities by high-speed rail or rolling out transformative technologies such as the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), Future Railway Mobile Communications System (FRMCS) or Digital Capacity Management (DCM), rail's investment needs over the coming decades are huge.
Calls for the EU's dedicated transport budget, the Connecting Europe Facility, are regularly oversubscribed by a factor of up to five. Already today, the funding of high-quality transport projects must be rejected for purely budgetary reasons.
How then can we bridge the funding gap and make sure that ambitious rail infrastructure development can be confidently pursued?
As the European Commission starts reflecting on its proposal for the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), this event will be a first opportunity to discuss rail investment priorities, take stock of current funding and financing experiences and exchange on possible new avenues for the future.
This dinner event will feature keynote speeches from Nándor Csepreghy, Deputy Minister for Transport and Construction of Hungary, Johann Pluy, Board Member of ÖBB Infrastruktur and Chair of the CER Coalition on Infrastructure, and Zsolt Hegyi, CEO of MÁV Hungarian Railways and Chair of the CER Coalition on Funding. They will be joined in the discussion round by Member of the European Parliament Kosma Złotowski.
Attendance to this event is by invitation only.