ESC attended the policy debate “From Funding to Delivery: Putting Rail Projects on Track”, organised by the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and Iarnród Éireann-Irish Rail, and hosted by MEP Nina Carberry and the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU at the European Parliament on 9 September.
The discussion focused on the importance of EU funding for rail infrastructure in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, including through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
For shippers, reliable rail infrastructure is important for the efficient and predictable movement of goods across Europe. Capacity constraints, bottlenecks, and a lack of interoperability can lead to delays, higher costs, and disruption to supply chains. Improving cross-border connections is therefore important not only for passenger transport, but also for European freight and the competitiveness of businesses.
The event highlighted major cross-border projects, including the Brenner Base Tunnel and Rail Baltica, showing how EU investment can help address infrastructure bottlenecks and improve connections across the TEN-T network. Rail Baltica also illustrates the wider role of transport infrastructure in strengthening European resilience and military mobility.
The discussion also highlighted the need to maintain and upgrade existing infrastructure alongside investment in major new projects. Sufficient capacity and reliable connections across the network will be important to meet the needs of freight transport and support the EU’s competitiveness, resilience, and decarbonisation objectives.
ESC supports continued EU investment in transport infrastructure and a strong CEF to deliver the cross-border connections, capacity, and interoperability needed by European businesses and supply chains.