EU Danish Presidency High-level Event & Discussion: Cutting cost in rail – Harmonised Rules and Innovative Processes & Solutions for a Market-oriented Railway

EU Danish Presidency High-level Event & Discussion: Cutting cost in rail - Harmonised Rules and Innovative Processes & Solutions for a Market-oriented Railway

The high-level event on 5 November 2025 in Copenhagen opened by Flemming Schiller (Danish Deputy Permanent Secretary of State for Transport and Rail Director), Kristian Schnidt (Director Land Transport, DG MOVE, European Commission) and Oana Gherghinescu (Executive Director, European Union Agency for Railways), explored key issues in the European railway sector, focusing on harmonisation of regulations, supply market competitiveness, and infrastructure cost efficiency. For the European Commission, rising costs and technical fragmentation in the railway sector are a negative spiral that hinder the growth of the railway sector.

According to Kristian Schmidt, the railway supply industry shall be strengthened to deliver its share for the future of railways in Europe. Kristian Schmidt offered the rail supply industry a "deal" at the beginning of the conference, while the institutions show sympathy for UNIFE's call for investing €3 billion in R&D and €15 billion in pre-deployment, the European Commission would like to see the industry bringing cost down significantly and to support it with their ambitious vision of realising a Single European Railway Area. Oana Gherghinescu laid out that, unlike fine art, rail is a master piece, only when it is based on standardisation, follows an industrial approach, with economies of scale, crosses border seamlessly as a true European solution, is affordable and safe and follows integrated deployment and financing plan.

The first panel debated the benefits and challenges of harmonising railway rules, considering whether deregulation or further standardisation could reduce costs, improve cross-border transport, and addressed ERA's resource challenges, especially concerning vehicle authorisation and ERTMS® deployment. A call was made to strive towards the European approach and eliminate national rules and consider giving more responsibility to operators and the rail supply industry in the framework of vehicle authorisation.

The second panel joined by Enno Wiebe (Director General, UNIFE), Kevin Cogo (COO, Alstom) and Gerhard Greiter (CEO Region North-East Europe, Siemens Mobility) examined the fragmented supply market, which hampers economies of scale, drives up costs, and limits competition, and carried discussions on potential solutions to enhance industrial capacity and market integration.

The third panel addressed the high costs associated with developing and maintaining rail infrastructure, especially in the context of upgrading networks with ERTMS® introduced by the European ERTMS® Coordinator Matthias Ruete, seeking strategies for improving cost efficiency while ensuring safety and performance. It was underlined that for the deployment of FRMCS, previously mistakes such as the national approaches should not be repeated.

As a summary of the workshops, Joachim Lücking (Head of Unit Rail Safety and Interoperability, DG MOVE, European Commission) emphasised that reducing regulation alone is not the solution for making rail more cost-efficient but rather further harmonisation, with careful scope considerations and streamlined vehicle authorisation processes, including making ETCS more cost-effective. Giorgio Travaini (Executive Director Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking) highlighted that stakeholders are committed to achieving more with less, supporting a European approach to enhance cost efficiency. Oana Gherghinescu concurred, stressing the importance of removing persistent national rules to establish a stable, mature regulatory framework and simplifying administrative procedures, which ERA recognises as essential steps forward.

The Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union emphasised in the summary of the meeting the vital role of a robust and integrated European rail sector, advocating for the full implementation of the 4^th Railway Package and TEN-T Regulation to enhance cross-border interoperability, open access, and modern capacity management. The need to significantly reduce technical and administrative costs through harmonisation and deployment, including mapping and removing cross-border bottlenecks, ensuring stability and innovation in TSIs, and standardising ERTMS® was accentuated. In addition a call was made for a coordinated EU-level deployment of ERTMS®, harmonised maintenance solutions, targeted innovation like predictive maintenance, streamlined vehicle certification processes, and workforce upskilling to address industry challenges.

These components will serve as the foundation for a statement which the Danish Presidency will deliver to other ministers, highlighting the shared dedication to the strategy and technological developments, especially with regard to ETCS and FRMCS, both backed by the European Commission's support. ERA's work program, the Single Programming Document, will outline specific actions and monitor to achieve these goals, guaranteeing an affordable, competitive, and sustainable European rail system that promotes economic growth, mobility, and resilience. This will ensure follow-up with tangible results.