Speaking at the launch event for the European Year of Rail (see EUROPE 12628/13) on Monday 29 March, Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean argued that the EU should tackle two major problems in order to attract more passengers and freight to the rails: the “longstanding lack of interoperability” and the “slow progress in digitalisation”.
These are both obstacles to the “development of seamless cross-border freight and passenger services”, said Ms Vălean, recalling that the EU is now aiming to double high-speed rail traffic in the EU by 2030 and triple it by 2050 (see EUROPE 12619/12).
Earlier, Portugal’s Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos, whose country currently holds the EU Council Presidency, also said that a return “to the previous model of close national rail networks with little connection between each other” was not desirable.
Connecting Europe Express
The Commissioner used the event to launch an initiative which she rightly assured would be “a useful reminder of the many technical and administrative barriers that still need to be overcome for the creation of a true single European railway area”.
This initiative will result in the introduction of a special train called Connecting Europe Express, in partnership with the Community of European Railways and Infrastructure Companies (CER).
The train will leave Lisbon in September, making a total of 40 stops in most European capitals as well as in countries such as Switzerland and Serbia. At each stop, events will be organised. The journey will end in Paris in 2022, when France takes over the EU Council.
The chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France), said, at the close of the event, that the deployment of rail in the EU will not happen without “a clear and significant political and economic support from the Member States”, which should be followed by concrete actions undertaken by the whole sector. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)