EU Member States risk ‘Leaving money on the table’ for much-needed rail upgrades
Member States across the European Union are at risk of missing out on significant funds to improve their railway networks and renewing their rolling stock fleets, which would create jobs, boost European competitiveness and deliver much-needed rail upgrades.
UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe today cautioned many EU Member States are at risk of forgoing much-needed funds for European rail investments, as the deadline for the Recovery and Resilience Facility draws closer.
Since 2021, the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) has offered up to €650 billion in grants and low-interest loans, which were designed to finance Member States’ reforms and investments.
With the deadline for Member States to make their payment requests to the European Commission in August 2026, time is growing increasingly short to complete all the necessary milestones and targets identified as part of this process.
Some EU Member States have capitalised to boost national rail networks, such as Italy, who has planned €29 billion in different rail upgrades. These includes investing in developing and building high-speed rail, new rolling stock, and rolling-out ERTMS technology, which has revived the fortunes of their rail network.
Further to this, other countries such as Spain, France and Romania have also taken advantage of the funds on offer, allocating over €4.5bn each in infrastructure, digitalisation, rail urban transport, signalling and fleet modernisation for their national rail networks.
As part of the criteria for the funding, the European Commission called on Member States to access funds to make their economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and prepared for the green and digital transitions - in line with the EU’s priorities. Out of the €87 billion total estimated expenditure in sustainable mobility across all the Member States’ Plans, more than half of it has been allocated to rail projects, at both urban and mainline levels.
Both Mario Draghi’s Competition Report and Enrico Letta’s More Than A Market Report significantly highlight the under development of the EU railway network, and call for greater investment in projects such as ERTMS and the Digital Automatic Coupling
UNIFE has alerted the European Commission on the difficulties faced by several Member States on the implementation of rail projects under the RRF. Due to the specificities of the rail industry, projects face much longer implementation cycles and hence, the fulfilment of the milestones and targets in such a short-time frame has become problematic for Member States.
While extending the 2026 deadline does bring legal and political complexities, the Commission is supporting Member States in amending the milestones and targets of some rail projects to reflect these longer cycles, which will allow Member States to draw the respective funds.
In view of the next EU Budget (Multiannual Financial Framework), where the application of the RRF performance based method will be the rule across different EU funding programmes, policymakers need to make sure that rail projects are given sufficient and realistic timelines to be able to benefit from EU funding.
UNIFE stands ready to continue engaging with the Commission and other relevant stakeholders in order to address these shortcomings. Rail investments have the potential to create thousands of jobs and boost the competitiveness of our economy for the benefit of our citizens and the European rail system.
UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe stated:
Many EU Member States have budget concerns, and we want to insist on the need of not missing this historic opportunity to invest in rail. With the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the European Commission is aiming at turning a crisis into a generational opportunity to boost European mobility and innovation.
Several of these funds could go towards creating jobs on ‘shovel ready’ rail projects, fleets renewals, boosting the ERTMS roll-out, improving and greening urban mobility and advancing on the completion of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
Considering the next EU budget, where the application of the RRF performance based method will be the rule across different EU funding programmes, we need to make sure that rail projects are given sufficient and realistic timelines to be able to benefit from EU funding.
For more information please contact
Andrei Ciufu
UNIFE Head of Communications
andrei.ciufu@unife.org
+32 2 626 12 64
