Plea for “a new European railway pact”
The bosses of 24 railway companies claim, in a column published in the JDD, “a massive European investment” in favor of rail.
A “European rail summit” is due to take place on Monday at SNCF headquarters in France. (illustrative image)
AFP
Twenty-four leaders of European railway companies, including the director general of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) Jean-Pierre Farandou, want to work together to “improve the attractiveness of rail everywhere on the continent”, calling for “a European investment massive” to establish “a new European railway pact”.
“The train is the most eco-responsible motorized mode of transport”, plead the leaders in a tribune published in France in the “Journal du dimanche”, lamenting that “the share of rail in the transport of passengers and goods remains so low”.
“Because we share the conviction that the railway has a key role to play in the fight against climate change, we are concretely committed to the development of the train in Europe”, they write before a “European railway summit” which must meet Monday at the headquarters of the SNCF, in France. They promise an improvement in the customer experience, greener and more recyclable trains, an effort on innovation and more diversified recruitment, making more room for women and young people.
“Rules of fair competition”
“This pact is ambitious: we will only succeed together”, despite the differences and the competition between their companies, they claim. With “a common objective: to increase the share of rail in transport and thus contribute to achieving climate neutrality by 2050”. “We need the Member States and the European Union. We call on them to support this pact by committing to setting clear modal shift objectives at the national level”, insist the leaders.
“New resources are needed to better finance the rail system and public transport. To invest massively in the modernization of rail networks, to increase their capacity and their interoperability, to modernize rolling stock, we need the means.” They also call on Brussels and the Member States to “promote rules of fair competition between modes of transport”, in particular taking into account their ecological footprint.
The platform is signed, among others, by the bosses of the German national railway companies Deutsche Bahn, Austrian ÖBB, Belgian SNCB, Danish DSB, Finnish VR, Hungarian MÁV, Italian FS, Luxembourg CFL, Dutch NS, Portuguese CP, and Slovenian SZ.
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