The European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) has presented its 2024-2029 manifesto on the key areas of development of the European rail freight segment. The manifesto sets out what ERFA believes are the key issues to be addressed by the European institutions and EU member states during the current legislative cycle.
The CFTS portal reported this, citing the publication Railway Gazette.
The manifesto identifies three broad policy objectives that should be focused on. These are the repair of infrastructure, the creation of a Single European Railway Area (SERA), and the improvement of the competitiveness of rail freight.
ERFA believes that a broad and holistic approach covering both financial and legislative policies is needed to achieve these three objectives.
To achieve these goals, four requirements need to be met: infrastructure needs to be renewed and the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) completed; track access charging regimes need to be reassessed and developed into a strategic framework to support the shift to rail; the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) need to be fully prioritized in implementation, specification changes minimized, and test specifications be harmonized and simplified; a Single European Railway Area (SERA) needs to be completed with reduction of bureaucracy, simplified language requirements, and simplified certification procedures for railway licenses and rolling stock.
