UNIFE Leads Rail Industry Into the Year of Rail

The Year of Rail is here! After the European institutions elected to designate 2021 a celebration of our sector’s contribution to the society we enjoy today and its potential utility in its just transformation into a global climate leader, UNIFE has been hard at work coordinating the European Rail Supply Industry’s engagement with this unique opportunity to present our role in the sustainable multimodal transport system of tomorrow.

UNIFE and its Members will spend 2021 – and beyond – continuously advocating for a European transport paradigm that makes our communities healthier, more connected and increasingly able to grasp economic opportunities. With the recent ratification of the historic 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and visionary “Next Generation EU” supplement, there exists an opening to reshape how Europe approaches its future – a progression that requires a whole-of-society effort to generate the just and environmental transition the post-COVID-19 recovery and achieving the EU Green Deal’s objectives.

Moving at full steam down the tracks, our association quickly established a motivated task force composed of a diverse array of industry stakeholders and laid out an ambitious action plan to the European Union’s Year of Rail. With the 2021 European Railway Award (25 January) being heralded as the unofficial launch of the year-long communication campaign due to its high-level participants such as European Parliament President David Sassoli, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean and Portuguese Minister for Infrastructure and Housing Pedro Nuno Santos, this conception has given our advocacy essential direction. It has also proven instrumental in establishing the first in a 12-part series of digital events, "How to boost rail investments with the support of the MFF and the Recovery & Resilience Facility?" (28 January), which promises to be a lively and thought-provoking assessment on how to mobilise EU funding towards a sustainable mode of transport fit to serve as the backbone of green multimodal mobility.

UNIFE looks forward with our Members, colleagues from across the rail sector and EU institutions to create an informative and inspiring European Year of Rail that recognises our industry’s historical contributions to our Union and the role it is set to play in the mobility paradigm of tomorrow.

Join us this year as we continue advocating for a European transport paradigm that makes our communities healthier, more connected and increasingly able to grasp economic opportunities #EUYearofRail!

More information on the European Year of Rail can be found on the official webpage https://europa.eu/year-of-rail