Supporting an European rail system to decarbonise mobility
To reduce EU transport emissions by 90% by 2050, a significant share of transport needs to shift to rail. This requires investments into rail infrastructure, enhanced cross-border cooperation, simplified booking options and fair taxation across transport modes. Considering the current goals and the political momentum build around the European Year of Rail 2021, which presents a window of opportunity as it offers a focal point for the EU to agree on concrete steps for improving the European rail system; Europe on Rail aims to build support for a ‘Rail renaissance’ in Europe and for respective policy measures, with a focus on cross-border passenger rail transport.
To achieve so, the project aims to develop the following major activities:
- A joint EU policy paper on the European Year of Rail, which highlights key challenges of cross-border passenger rail transport and presents policy recommendations to EU policy-makers.
- One national-level policy paper that aim at national policy makers linking the European discussions to the national situation.
- Two internal strategy development workshops to establish capacity building and defining priorities to secure longer-term engagement of national partners and allies.
- One national workshop to build support for improving cross-border rail transport, build alliances and activate progressive actors in the respective Member States.
- One EU-policy workshop aiming to build alliances between key European actors, build support for policy initiatives during the European Year of Rail and connect the national to the European level.
