Europe’s rail transport is green, with 81% of train-kilometres travelled in the European Union already powered by electricity , and causes a low climate impact . Yet rail is not used to its full potential, especially not as a means of cross-border travel. Rail is estimated to represent only around 10% of collective cross-border passenger transport in Europe. Utilising this potential is a matter of urgency. (...)
EUR-Lex is your online gateway to EU Law. It provides the official and most comprehensive access to EU legal documents. It is available in all of the EU’s 24 official languages and is updated daily.
RAILISA (RAIL Information System and Analyses) is an online tool allowing users to visualise and download data provided by railway companies worldwide. Numerous indicators are available for more than 100 railway companies: length of lines and tracks on the infrastructure network, passenger and freight traffic (e.g. passenger-kilometres and tonne-kilometres), train movements, rolling stock, staff numbers, financial results, etc. Some of these indicators have been documented since 1995, and the database is updated frequently.
Organisation for Co-Operation between Railways
(…) The Organisation for Co-Operation between Railways took into account in its activities the development of international cooperation in the field of railway transport and the development of measures aimed at stabilising the situation and maintaining the secured supply chains. (…)
Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail
The Organisation’s mission is to promote, improve and facilitate international traffic by rail (Article 2 COTIF 1999). It therefore offers its 50 Member States a framework for cooperation in the railway sector in order to:
A literature review of Artificial Intelligence applications in railway systems; Ruifan Tang et al.; Transportation research. Part C, Emerging technologies; 2022; Volume 140, pp.103679
Nowadays it is widely accepted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is significantly influencing a large number of domains, including railways. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review of the current state-of-the-art of AI in railway transport. In particular, we analysed and discussed papers from a holistic railway perspective, covering sub-domains such as maintenance and inspection, planning and management, safety and security, autonomous driving and control, revenue management, transport policy, and passenger mobility. This review makes an initial step towards shaping the role of AI in future railways and provides a summary of the current focuses of AI research connected to rail transport. We reviewed about 139 scientific papers covering the period from 2010 to December 2020. We found that the major research efforts have been put in AI for rail maintenance and inspection, while very limited or no research has been found on AI for rail transport policy and revenue management. The remaining sub-domains received mild to moderate attention. AI applications are promising and tend to act as a game-changer in tackling multiple railway challenges. (…)
Resilience in railway transport systems: a literature review and research agenda; Nikola Bešinović; Transport reviews; 2020; Volume 40; Issue 4; pp. 457-478
Critical infrastructure networks, such as transport and power networks, are essential for the functioning of a society and economy. The rising transport demand increases the congestion in railway networks and thus they become more interdependent and more complex to operate. Also, an increasing number of disruptions due to system failures as well as climate changes can be expected in the future. As a consequence, many trains are cancelled and excessively delayed, and thus, many passengers are not reaching their destinations which compromises customers need for mobility. Currently, there is a rising need to quantify impacts of disruptions and the evolution of system performance. This review paper aims to set-up a field-specific definition of resilience in railway transport and gives a comprehensive, up-to-date review of railway resilience papers. (…)
Innovativeness of railway transport in the context of the development of tourism in Poland; Maciej Kozłowski, Marek Pawełczyk, Agnieszka Piotrowska-Piątek; Quality & Quantity; 2020; Issue 54; pp. 1691–1703
The article discusses the issue of innovation activities of companies in railway transport in Poland in the context of the development of tourism. Transport infrastructure and organization, along with economic, social, ecological and political factors, are the basic stimulators for the development of tourism. In literature on the subject, this problem is rarely discussed. This article is of a review and research nature. The aim of it is to consider the condition of innovativeness of railway transport companies in Poland in the context of its role in the development of tourism in Poland.
Improvement of railway performance: a study of Swedish railway infrastructure; Yamur K. Al-Douri, Phillip Tretten, Ramin Karim; Journal of Modern Transportation; 2016; Issue 24; pp. 22–37
The volume of rail traffic was increased by 5 % from 2006 to 2010, in Sweden, due to increased goods and passenger traffic. This increased traffic, in turn, has led to a more rapid degradation of the railway track, which has resulted in higher maintenance costs. In general, degradation affects comfort, safety, and track quality, as well as, reliability, availability, speed, and overall railway performance. This case study investigated the needs of railway stakeholders responsible for analysing the track state and what information is necessary to make good maintenance decisions. The goal is to improve the railway track performance by ensuring increased availability, reliability, and safety, along with a decreased maintenance cost.
Metropolitan Network: A strong European railway for an ever closer union; Deutsche Bahn (DB); 2023
Deutsche Bahn (DB), together with European rail companies, has carried out a study on the expansion of high-speed rail transport in Europe. The proposal for a "Metropolitan Network" focuses on the specific expansion of rail lines for fast passenger trains across the continent and on the simulation of the resulting possible growth in transport volume on environmentally friendly rail. The starting point of the study is the European Commission's Green Deal. This intends to bring about a doubling in volume for European high-speed rail (HSR) by 2030 and a tripling by 2050, allowing it to make an important contribution to reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector. In the study, specialists analyzed what a Green Deal rail network would have to look like in order to achieve the EU's targets. (…)
Challenges for European Rail; Mattihas Ruete; Institut Jacques Delors; 2021; Policy Paper 261
Trains were born in Europe. This European Year of the Railways should be an opportunity to make rail transport the major player in clean European mobility, even though its overall share of the various modes of transport has become relatively low. The railways do not have a problem with decarbonisation but with attractiveness.
Strengthening this attractiveness requires, at the European level, improving the conditions of equality with other modes of transport according to the polluter-pays principle. This also requires significant public investment, which the European recovery plan should facilitate. Making railways a major provider of mobility and logistics also requires that it be able to operate within a single European framework and that the digitalisation of the sector be accelerated, particularly in terms of rail signaling and traffic management. Europe’s major role in the railway industry must be protected against unfair competition from the rest of the world. Finally, the railways must be attractive to users, in particular through better interconnections and the ongoing revival of night trains. The extension of the dedicated infrastructure should contribute to this, making these network corridors our European “silk road”. The ambition is also to build a more crisis-resilient European rail network in order to avoid disruptions in freight supply chains. (...)
Sector Stakeholder Statement on International Rail Passenger Services; EIM; 2021
The European Rail Sector stakeholders support the work of the International Rail Passenger Platform and the willingness of its members to improve international rail passenger services.
Improving use of rail infrastructure capacity; Jaan Soone; EPRS; Briefing; 2024
In July 2023, the European Commission tabled a package of proposals aimed at greening freight transport. One of these proposals focuses on improving the use of rail infrastructure capacity. The proposed text suggests changes to the rules governing the planning and allocation of railway infrastructure capacity, which are currently outlined in Directive 2012/34/EU and Regulation (EU) No 913/2010. The goal of the changes is to enhance the management of rail infrastructure capacity and traffic so as to improve service quality,optimise railway network usage, increase traffic capacity and enhance the transport sector's contribution to decarbonisation.
Revision of Regulation (EU) 913/2010 concerning a European rail network for competitive freight; Izabela Cristina Bacian; EPRS; Briefing; 2021
Boosting rail freight transport is an essential pillar of the European Union's long-term policy to make transport more sustainable by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonising the sector. However, rail freight transport has faced numerous barriers in its development, and its growth is held back by its lack of competitiveness with other modes of transport such as road transport. Regulation (EU) 913/2010 was designed to facilitate rail freight transport across the EU rail network, through the creation of rail freight corridors, but the potential of those corridors has not been fully exploited. While the regulation was conducive to enhanced cooperation across borders, its implementation did not lead to an increase in rail freight transport along the corridors, with insufficient coordination on traffic management and infrastructure works. Against this backdrop, the Commission has launched a two-step revision process for Regulation (EU) 913/2010. (…)
Rail passengers' rights and obligations in the EU; Maria Niestadt, Damiano Scordamaglia; EPRS; Briefing; 2021
In 2007, the EU established a set of basic rights for rail passengers, which became applicable at the end of 2009. These rights provide for all passengers, including those with reduced mobility, a harmonised minimum level of protection, information and assistance. Reports have concluded that the implementation of these rights, although relatively smooth, is not done uniformly across the EU. Moreover, other shortcomings have prevented these rights from being used to their full potential. In September 2017, the European Commission presented a new proposal to address these issues and to strike a new balance between keeping rail operators competitive and providing adequate passenger protection.(...)
Road and rail transport and coronavirus: Mapping the way out of the crisis; Jaan Soone; EPRS; Briefing; 2020
In the first weeks of the coronavirus crisis, the lockdown and border closures halted most passenger services in road and rail transport and left road hauliers to face uncertainty and very long waiting times at many border crossings. With the pandemic easing, some passenger services resumed in certain EU countries from late April onward, and with the introduction of 'green lanes' the situation at border crossings stabilised allowing smoother passage for road hauliers. Nonetheless, the initial estimates of the costs to the transport sector are immense and the impact is expected to continue well beyond 2020. The EU took a number of steps in the early stages of the crisis to alleviate the situation and to provide relief to the transport sector. As the situation progressed, the European Commission introduced further measures to help coordinate the exit from confinement and safely restart transport services. The Commission has also tabled a European recovery plan with a number of new instruments, which will allow the provision of assistance to key sectors, including the transport sector. The European Council reached a political agreement on the recovery fund on 21 July. To support their economies, EU governments have introduced a number of economy-wide measures, but also sector-specific measures, including for transport and tourism, as well as support for individual transport companies. The Commission has further enabled governments to use State aid to help firms in difficulty by putting in place a temporary framework for State aid.
The trans-European transport network: State of play in 2020; Marketa Pape; EPRS; Briefing; 2020
For a number of years now, the EU has been developing a transport network across its territory to link its regions and countries, and thus also markets and people. This large-scale project – the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) – should be efficient and sustainable, and contribute to economic activity. It covers the development of all transport modes, yet seeks to shift a significant part of road transport to less polluting modes, in particular rail and inland waterways. In 2013, the EU Member States agreed to have the 'core' network ready by 2030, and set aside unprecedented amounts of funding to achieve this goal. Seven years later, the European Commission is taking stock of what has been achieved, what remains to be done and what will not be achieved within the 2030 horizon. It has already proposed changes to the EU financial support for TEN-T for the 2021-2027 period and reviews of the relevant guidelines, and plans to propose an adapted set of rules to the European Parliament and the Council in 2021. These should better support transport decarbonisation and digitalisation, as well as boost infrastructure resilience to climate change. (…)
More from European Parliament Think Tank on railways
The content of all documents contained in the Think Tank website is the sole responsibility of the author and any opinions expressed therein do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. It is addressed to the Members and staff of the EP for their parliamentary work.
Fact Sheets on the European Union - Rail transport
The Fact Sheets are designed to provide non-specialists with a straightforward, concise and accurate overview of the European Union’s institutions and policies, and the role that the European Parliament plays in their development. Drafted by the policy departments and the Economic Governance Support Unit, the Fact Sheets are available in 24 languages.
Legislative Train - 4th Railway Package
The ‘Legislative Train Schedule’ website – offering a detailed state-of-play on upcoming initiatives, legislative proposals and procedures already finalised, as well as issues blocked or files withdrawn – continues to present new European Commission initiatives using the railway image. The aim is to facilitate the followup by all Members, Parliament staff and a broader public audience of the legislative and non-legislative activity of the EU institutions.
Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport: Rail
The European Commission web page gives an overview of EU Rail Transport, railway packages, infrastructure and much more:
European Council - Transport
This page gives an overview of the latest and upcoming meetings, press releases and policies related to the work of the Council and the European Council in the area of transport.
Transport ferroviaire. Comment mettre la France à l'abri d'une régression; Yves Crozet; Ville, Rail & Transports; 2018; Numéro 607; pp. 42-45
L'Autorité de régulation des activités ferroviaires et routières (Arafer), dans le cadre de son Observatoire des transports et de la mobilité, a mis en ligne en novembre 2017 un document intitulé Le marché français du transport ferroviaire de voyageurs 2015-2016.
25 années de dérèglementation du transport ferroviaire en Europe : quel bilan?; Yves Crozet; Transports; 2016; Numéro 498; pp. 5-14
En juillet 1991, après de longues négociations entre pays européens, était publiée la directive 91-440, amorce du processus de déréglementation du transport ferroviaire. Comme dans les autres industries de réseau (énergie, télécommunications...), l’Union européenne (UE) s’engageait dans une nouvelle logique : la séparation, au moins comptable, entre l’infrastructure et l’exploitation. L’objectif affiché était, là aussi, de permettre l’accès des tiers au réseau. Comme dans le transport routier quelques années auparavant, il s’agissait de faire de la concurrence un levier clé de la revitalisation du secteur. 25 années plus tard, et alors que va être officialisé un quatrième « paquet ferroviaire » dont le contenu est désormais connu, quel bilan peut-on tirer?
Rozwój kolejowych, regionalnych połączeń transgranicznych w Polsce; Michał Beim; Andrzej Soczówka; Transport Miejski i Regionalny; Issue 10; 2016
Rozwój regionalnych, transgranicznych połączeń kolejowych w Europie Zachodniej stanowi istotny czynnik wzrostu ekonomicznego oraz ważny aspekt integracji europejskiej. Koleje regionalne łączące sąsiadujące państwa nie tylko stanowią dopełnienie głównego systemu transportowego kontynentu, ale stanowią istotny wkład w rozwój ekonomiczny obszarów nadgranicznych. Polska w okresie transformacji i integracji europejskiej po roku 1989 doświadczała bardzo wielu zmian w zakresie kolejowych połączeń transgranicznych. Znoszenie wiz do państw sąsiednich, likwidacja granicy celnej czy wreszcie przystąpienie do strefy Schengen walnie przekładały się na funkcjonowanie połączeń. Obecnie realny wpływ posiada regionalna i państwowa polityka transportowa, a także dążenia przewoźników do pozyskiwania nowych klientów.
La régionalisation des transports ferroviaires : enseignements de l'expérimentation et perspectives; Géraldine Bonnet et al.; Centre d'études sur les réseaux, les transports, l'urbanisme et les constructions publiques (CERTU); 2001
Für die Renaissance des europäischen Bahnverkehrs: Was Deutschland jetzt tun sollte; Lena Donat; Germanwatch; 2021
Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (UIC)
Innovating for the future European rail system
UNIFE, the Association of the European Rail Supply Industry
UNIFE is committed to maintaining the strong performance and technological leadership of Europe’s rail supply industry.
European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM)
As such, EIM supports the work of the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA).
Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER)
The Voice of European Railways
European Union Agency for Railways (ERA)
Based in France, the ERA is helping to integrate European railway systems by making trains safer and able to cross national borders without stopping.
DiscoverEU; European Commission
DiscoverEU is an initiative of the European Union that gives you the opportunity to discover Europe through learning experiences. Travelling predominantly by rail (there are exceptions to allow those living on islands or in remote areas), you will discover Europe’s stunning landscapes and its variety of cities and towns.
Europe by train brochure 2023; Rail Europe
Train World; Brussels; Belgium
The Danish Railway Museum; Odense; Denmark
The Finnish Railway Museum; Hyvinkää; Finnland
DB Museum; Nürnberg; Germany
The National Railway Museum; York; UK
EP Library catalogue will give you access to a large multilingual collection of information sources, focusing on European policies, law, economics and international relations. Find search results (open access) related to the subject of this guide.
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