The Alliance of Rail New Entrants (ALLRAIL) is a new rail body created to bring together all of the non-incumbent companies from the freight and passenger sectors. Based in Brussels, it has been founded by the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) to forge a strong alliance between freight and passenger operators committed to fair competition and open markets.

A higher amount of competition will, says ALLRAIL, help save costs for customers and for the authorities responsible for ordering the services. ALLRAIL members are hungry to invest in rail and set up new routes and new types of services across Europe, making rail a more attractive transport mode for existing and new customers.

‘More competitive’

Its purpose is to support the European rail sector in becoming more competitive by challenging the current market dominance of rail incumbents. The rail sector, it adds, needs to ‘remove market access barriers’ to all types of infrastructure, and ensure a regulatory framework that is discrimination- and cost-sensitive.

Erich Forster, CEO of WESTbahn, has been named as President, while Tony Berkeley, who is a Director of ERFA, is Vice-President. Key topics of focus include pursuing fully opened rail markets across the European Union, widening access to routes, financing for rolling stock and an open data approach to rail.