Towards making Transport Fit for 55

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) welcomes today’s discussions among European Transport Ministers on the Fit for 55 package, and expects the EU Council to take concrete steps towards a much-needed reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Energy Taxation Directive.

CER also expects that the Social Climate Fund be used not only to support citizens’ low emission private mobility but also to lead them towards more virtuous collective transport solutions.

CER welcomes the discussion on the Regulation on Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (AFIR). This will guarantee that other transport modes will be ready for multimodal clean mobility solutions in cooperation with railways. AFIR should help the decarbonisation of transport as a whole, promoting zero-emission door-to-door mobility, with railways as the preferred long-distance mode in Europe. National plans should not introduce targets for railways, as 4 out of 5 trains already run on electricity.

CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola stated “CER’s position is straightforward: if we want to decarbonise transport and meet the 2030 and 2050 emission targets, the scope of ETS must be widened and at least 25% of its revenues allocated to sustainable mobility and rail. In parallel, fiscal exemption to aviation cargo must be applicable to rail cargo: this time around the Council must come to a positive agreement on the Energy Taxation Directive, unlike in 2015 when the Commission was forced to withdraw its previous proposal”.