Transporting Ukrainian agricultural products, especially grain, via Poland may become significantly more difficult in 2023. The export of grain from Ukraine to Poland via the Izov-Hrubieszów rail border crossing has been prohibited since 27 February,...Read more
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) is asking for the inclusion of the rail industry in the Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age (GDIP), the EU’s new plan to reach...Read more
The German parliament has voted in favour of reducing electricity prices for railways to 13 cents per kWh. This is a significant reduction of what the industry pays now, according to Conor Feighan from the...Read more
The European Commission approved a 28-million euro support scheme in the Netherlands to encourage freight transport to shift from road to rail. This will, among others, support rail freight companies to pay for the significantly...Read more
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) launched a study to examine the best possible connections between Central Asian countries and the European TEN-T network. The study will last until the summer of 2023...Read more
The European Commission (EC) is going to unlock an emergency fund for 250 million euros to boost the Ukrainian Solidarity Lanes in the short term. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EC, pointed out...Read more
The Global Ukraine Rail Task Force is asking for a new Marshall Plan for the Ukrainian rail freight sector. The plan, as the name suggests, would be similar to the Marshall Plan, implemented by the...Read more
Italy will continue to provide state aid for the shift from road to rail until 2027. In addition, it is spending an additional 200 million euros, on top of the 300 million euros already allocated...Read more
The possibility of extending the European railway gauge to Ukraine and Moldova has become more than just a proposal. The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have launched a pre- feasibility study, which...Read more
ERFA, UIP, and UIRR urged the EU to activate “an emergency intervention to address high energy prices that will be applied to traction electricity used by freight trains”. Electricity prices throughout the Union have increased...Read more
After the approval of recovery funds by the European Commission in June, the Italian government has implemented a scheme to compensate rail freight companies for the losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decree was...Read more
The European Commission is ready to release 5,12 billion euros through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in infrastructure projects targeting mainly the TEN-T network and multimodal transport. For interested parties, a call for proposals will...Read more
Finland’s Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka has called the recent proposal by the European Commission on the European standard rail gauge “unreasonable”. The views of Finnish officials and experts vary, but specifically the...Read more
32 European rail companies and organisations signed a declaration to support the reconstruction of railways in Ukraine. The declaration was realised on 9 July at the Rail CEO Summit 2022 in Vienna, hosted by Austrian...Read more
The European Commission has approved the allocation of 110 million euro, as part of the Cohesion Fund, to modernise a railway corridor in Western Bulgaria that is part of the TEN-T network between Sofia and...Read more
In light of the Commission’s revision of state aid guidelines for Railway Undertakings, the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) emphasises that it’s critical to ensure a level playing field for everyone in the European rail...Read more
In completing the TEN-T network, capacity for freight should not be forgotten, infrastructure works should not interrupt rail freight too much and the punctuality of freight trains should be monitored at the very least. Also,...Read more
A comparative review conducted by the European Court of Auditors identified that the EU policies are still quite weak when it comes to implementing infrastructure projects. Even though the EU does not face strategy definition...Read more
The European Commission has approved a 15 million euros support scheme proposed by the Slovenian government. The funding will run until the end of 2023 and will be available to railway companies through direct grants.Read more
The Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabić announced that the Balkan country will invest more than six billion euros in railway projects. The plans sound very promising; however, it seems that their success will be assessed...Read more
