EU Financing for Rail
Significant EU funds are available for investment in the European rail system. UNIFE advocates at the EU and Member State level for the proper use, absorption and spending of these funds in rail. Investing in rail is a key pillar of the EU Green Deal as it will play a key role in advancing on the EU decarbonisation agenda for transport.
More EU Funds for investments in Europe’s rail system
The EU provides various funding programmes and instruments to support rail investments in Europe. A great deal of attractive funding is available for the rail sector through these programmes. Efficient absorption and use of the funding provided by these EU programmes is essential to overcome the financial constraints on the amount of public money that national governments can invest in the rail networks, however, the situation differs from country to country.
The recent economic and geopolitical developments have further exacerbated these differences. However, this crisis also shows that even when our countries were brought to a near-standstill, rail, and urban rail systems (trams/metros/urban rail) have continued to ensure the circulation of critical goods and the continuation of essential services. It has been possible thanks to major EU investments in rail projects over recent years such as the establishment of NextGeneration EU. These overtures helped modernise European infrastructure, reduced bottlenecks, and bridged missing links. More than ever before, the COVID-19 crisis has illustrated how important a well-functioning Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is to Europe’s resilience for which UNIFE has actively advocated in order to establish new and ambitious requirements such as the deployment of ERTMS. UNIFE advocates that rail’s strategic role and its assets as the greenest, safest mode of mass transportation necessitates direct, massive European Union investments towards a strengthened, future transport system with rail as its backbone. Additionally, this would generate more market opportunities for the European rail supply industry.
Do you want to know more about the available EU Funds?
More investments mean more market opportunities. Join UNIFE as a Member to learn more about the wide range of EU funding programmes and instruments relevant to the rail sector. EU funds come from a variety of sources, such as the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) supporting the completion of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T); the traditional Structural Funds which support the EU Cohesion Policy, as well as the new InvestEU programme. These are often supplemented by private investors and/or national governments. UNIFE is advocating for an increase of the EU budget resources for rail projects in the upcoming 2028 – 2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) as well as for the favourable policy framework and enabling conditions that govern the use and spending of the funds.
On top of these programmes, EU Member States have a historic opportunity to recover from the COVID-19 crisis and to modernise their economies by making use of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility as part of the EU Next Generation Recovery Package.
With Global Gateway, there is also an opportunity to promote rail projects in EU third partner countries. As member of the Global Gateway Business Advisory Transport Sub-group, UNIFE is advising the Commission how to deal with the challenges that a lack of level playing fields and fair competition represent to European rail suppliers outside EU borders.
UNIFE cooperates with the European Commission’s DG MOVE, DG REGIO, DG INTPA, DG NEAR, the Recovery Task Force established under the EC Secretary-General, the European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), multilateral agencies such as the EIB, EBRD, World Bank, national Export Credit Agencies, and other European rail stakeholders to ensure that financial resources are available for rail projects and that they are used as efficiently as possible.