European Rail Supply Industry supports Mario Draghi’s competition report recommendations, which could cut emissions, lower freight costs by 10% and drive investment in rail

Reducing freight costs by 10%, cutting “stagnant“ transport emissions, and investing in key programs such as the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and the Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC), are central to former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s vision to bolster the European model of growth and prosperity.

UNIFE welcomes recommendations in The Future of European Competitiveness report published on 9 September, which was prepared on behalf of the European Commission. Several key shake-ups such as investing in key rail programs, further progress on shifting additional activity to more sustainable modes of transport and addressing unfair competition.

Mario Draghi in the report reminds policymakers transport accounts for 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions and unlike other sectors, CO2 emissions from transport are still higher than in 1990. He also outlines rail produces only 0.4% of Europe’s total transport greenhouse gas emissions.

The report stresses that more effective railway management could contribute to reducing freight transport congestion on roads. Road congestion is estimated to cost the EU €230 billion a year, with a greater intermodal transport shift reducing freight transport on door-to-door costs by 10% and bringing external cost savings of almost €20 billion in the next 25 years.

Draghi’s report backs the calls of the European Rail Supply Industry and echoes the Letta Report released earlier this year, criticising the persistence of an unharmonised rail signalling network, which differs in each Member State’s railway system.

The report states “the EU still lacks interoperable rail command, control and signalling, despite several EU bodies working towards this objective”. In this respect, UNIFE applauds the proposal to remove barriers to interoperability.

Echoing UNIFE’s messages, Mario Draghi also urges key investment to roll out digital solutions projected to boost rail capacity and run more services, such as the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) as part of ERTMS, Digital Capacity Management (DCM), and Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC).

UNIFE therefore fully supports the proposal to mobilise public and private financing, especially by increasing EU and Member State resources for cross-border connectivity, military mobility or climate resilience.

Finally, the report tackles key concerns UNIFE has repeatedly raised, such as the absence of level playing field with certain non-EU actors, highlighting that “In the rail equipment and supply sector, [companies] offer drastically lower prices than their EU competitors in EU Member States’ public procurement procedures”.

UNIFE strongly welcomes the proposals to level the playing field for EU industries through public procurement and an EU export credit facility, while also leveraging the Global Gateway initiative to promote EU standards for rail around the world.

The report comes as the European Rail Supply Industry delivered its priorities for the 2024-2029 EU legislative cycle, which propose improvements for boosting competitiveness by reducing EU reporting requirements for business, enforcing a level-playing field for trade with non-EU actors and making it easier for the development of technological advances such as AI.

Already established as representative of major providers of net-zero mobility solutions, UNIFE is ready to contribute to finer details of the Clean Industrial Deal, which has the potential to foster strong Europe-grown, cutting-edge and low-emissions industries.

Quotes attributable to UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe

“European policymakers and industry are re-examining what it will take to keep our continent competitive in a global world. It is clear that rail - and its various next generation systems - have the potential to drive productivity gains through rail freight and improvements to passenger infrastructure.”

“We support the current EU measures and trade tools to ensure a level playing field for the European Rail Supply Industry. International competition is a positive thing, but it must also be fair.”

“Better competitiveness isn’t just driven through investment and modal shifts. We know trade, better regulation, skills and technology are all vital elements to this, which is why we want to keep working with policymakers in getting this adaptation right.”