A provisional agreement on a better planning and allocation of railway infrastructure capacity in the EU was approved in Transport and Tourism Committee on 27 January 2026.
The new rules on railway capacity coordination in the EU, agreed by Council and Parliament negotiators, led by EP rapporteur Tilly Metz (Greens, LU), in November 2025, aim to optimise the use of the EU’s rail network, improve cross-border coordination, and increase punctuality and reliability through proper capacity planning and allocation.
According to the deal, the railway infrastructure capacity planning will be divided into three periods: strategic planning (every five years), scheduling (annually), and adaptation. The infrastructure managers in each EU country will remain the primary institution responsible for planning and managing rail infrastructure and traffic, as well as allocating the railway capacity slots. The European Network of Infrastructure Managers (ENIM) will get more powers to coordinate cross-border capacity and traffic through an EU framework. To improve this process MEPs managed to reinforce the role of railway undertakings, such as railway operators or rail-related service owners.
The provisional agreement now needs to be approved by the EU Council, before it could be voted by the full House.
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