Modal shift to rail will remain incomplete without seamless integration of multimodal ground collective public transport (otherwise known interchangeably as ‘ground‑based’ or ‘land’ or ‘land-based’ collective public transport – i.e. no flights). Contrary to car travel, rail transport suffers from a lack of visibility, granularity and reliability for day-to-day journeys.

In the context of this ongoing reform, AERRL, ALLRAIL, CER, ERFA, UIC, UIP, UIRR and UNIFE have defined a new common position about the use of the current European Vehicle Number and a vision of its evolution. They highlight the advantage of the existing EVN structure as a speaking number and they advocate keeping the authorisation (managed by manufacturers) and registration (managed by keepers) processes clearly separate.

ALLRAIL, AERRL and ERFA-European Rail Freight Association submitted their comments on the Entity in Charge of Maintenance (ECM) regulation to the European Union Agency for Railways.

ALLRAIL welcomes the European Commission's prompt initiative to address the challenges of multimodal travel, ensuring a smoother passenger experience. We value the Commission's commitment to stakeholder consultation, recognising its crucial role in enhancing rail transport's appeal and sustainability in alignment with the EU Green Deal objectives.

This paper calls for the abolition of the Hybrid Public Service Obligation (PSO) model in long-distance cross-border rail services in Europe.

The EU Commission or EU Member States as rolling stock assets managers is not the solution. Instead, the involvement of more private investment will help to both finance and operate a higher number of long-distance passenger rail departures and meet the growing demand for passenger rail services.

ALLRAIL welcomes the EU Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on the Use of Railway Capacity in the Single European Railway Area (SERA). This proposal comes at a timely juncture to amend and complement Directive 2012/34/EU in order to take into account major developments that have occurred in European rail transport since the adoption of the aforementioned Directive.

Railway Undertakings – organised in FTE, ERFA and Allrail – consider the single European market as a necessary ambition to allow seamless domestic and cross-border traffic making running a train as easy as running a truck or a bus.

Therefore, to improve customer services, reduce the hurdles for cross-border trains, and for business expansion, RUs ask IMs and policymakers for the creation of a real single European rail capacity market, without specific national standards. The goal is that the capacity planning is done the same way all over Europe, no matter if on one IM network or across several borders. This shall be supported by a harmonised European legal framework.

Railway Undertakings – organised in FTE, ERFA and Allrail – consider efficient handling of the capacity management process as key to improving quality and reducing costs. With increasing traffic volumes and TCRs, the increased data flow requires modern, customer-oriented IT support across Europe.

The goal of RUs therefore is to have efficient backing by the IT landscape of IMs, aligned across Europe, making no difference between national and international traffic, covering all capacities and all process steps using end-to-end standards.

Railway Undertakings (RUs) – organised in FTE, ERFA and Allrail – consider suitable timetables as the essential basis for providing satisfying services to rail freight and passenger customers.

Therefore, the goal of rail infrastructure capacity management is to provide the necessary quantity and quality capacity for all traffic needs at the time when it is required by the customers. With existing capacity processes not fulfilling all these needs, RUs ask for a common, European-wide improved process, supported by the necessary legal framework.

In the framework of the #ConnectingEurope Days in Lyon (June 2022), ALLRAIL along with other European actors of the rail sector, industry, civil society, passengers and workers associations came up together with the European Rail Manifesto.

In this manifesto, we commit to working towards a collaborative rail ecosystem that provides affordable, inclusive, secure and green mobility for all European Citizens by 2030, in order to progress with a modal shift in which medium and long-distance passenger transport is the backbone.

Our 2030 European Rail Vision is based on six objectives to be reached by 2030:

1. Make rail the backbone of sustainable mobility;
2. Ensure inclusiveness, competitiveness and affordability;
3. Guarantee connectedness, service levels and infrastructure quality;
4. Promote a green, inclusive, attractive, gender-balanced and qualified industry and jobs;
5. Ensure good governance, high quality, reliability and security;
6. Finance and invest in the future of rail.

In addition, we call upon European institutions and Member states to support our commitment. 

With the introduction of the Commission's trans-European transport network proposal (TEN-T), AERRL and ALLRAIL would like to emphasise the need for making the ERTMS the priority number one for the future of rail. This would require obligations on the part of the players, in order to ensure deployment based on transparent and synchronised planning as well as ambitious subsidy programmes coming from the Commission.

Railway Undertakings rely on high quality rail paths to be competitive in the European transport sector. Temporary Capacity Restrictions are massively influencing rail transport day by day. On the one hand, construction work is urgently needed to make the rail network in Europe more attractive and, on the other hand, current operations must not suffer as a result. In this area of conflict, it is necessary to optimize existing processes for IMs to be able to offer the needed capacity reliably and make rail transport more competitive.

Customers want rail travel in Europe to be as easy as using a truck or a bus, which subsequently pushes railway undertakings (RUs) to seek fluid capacity allocation for international traffics. A major challenge to that is the existing national orientation of capacity management. To make the Single European Railway Area a success, enhanced cooperation between partners is needed. To support international alignment, defend the RUs market needs and provide neutrality for conflicts, RUs in FTE, ERFA and ALLRAIL require:

• improved international alignment by IMs as already legally required for a decade in 2012/34/EU and
• an IM- and RU-independent international escalation mechanism.

Railway Undertakings (RUs) – organised by FTE, ERFA and ALLRAIL – believe that customer-oriented capacity management is key to rails success. This requires motivation support, stimulating market oriented, capacity friendly behaviour at the involved actors.

The rail rolling stock keepers are very interested in the modernisation of existing as well as new rolling stock. As a means of support to private investments in rail rolling stock, AERRL and ALLRAIL call for the creation of a data tool at a European level which will encourage funders to make investments that consider the current situation and the planning of future ERTMS deployment. This tool is the critical link to an accelerated deployment, which is a key condition to achieving the EU-wide standards for the railways. This will ensure sustainable growth in the coming years through safe, efficient, high-quality transport services. The database will coordinate the decisions that infrastructure managers and rolling stock owners make. Its development should be a priority for European Core Network Corridors.

Die DB Fernverkehr AG betreibt eigenwirtschaftlichen Eisenbahnpersonenfernverkehr. Im sogenannten Lockdown I (Frühjahr 2020) entschied sie sich trotz einer Auslastung von unter 10% für die Aufrechterhaltung von nahezu 100% des Angebots. Damit unterschied sie sich von allen anderen Staatsbahnen Europas, die große Teile ihrer Verkehre einstellten. Ziel sei es nach DB-Angaben gewesen, ein eigenes Angebot neben der Grundversorgung der Regionalverkehre anzubieten.

We welcome the initiative of the current EU German Presidency to boost and facilitate cross-border travel by trains. Across Europe, there are already nine independent digital platforms that enable customers to choose between different rail options and providers.

In February 2020 ALLRAIL presented list of Green Deal priorities on: Open Data & Through ticketing, Fair access to track infrastructure, Fair access to rolling stock Attractive & efficient cross-border night train network. In this paper, we shortly summarise Open Data & Through ticketing conditions needed to achieve the ambitious Green Deal objectives.