Promoting quality in rail – IRIS Certification improves sector’s attractiveness and competitiveness

Over the past year, the European Union (EU) has faced a multitude of unprecedented challenges: climate change, the digital transition, industrial renewal due to the climate crisis and, of course, significant economic setbacks caused by the pandemic’s outbreak.

Despite these difficulties, the EU has clearly understood that transport plays a critical role in safeguarding the well-functioning single market which proved to be vital for the EU citizens, as the Coronavirus severely restricted the free movement of people, goods and services.

These limitations demonstrated the concrete need for investments in ambitious transport projects, notably in rail, to drive swifter progress on EU Green Deal objectives while providing sustainable, uninterrupted mobility across Europe, creating jobs and conveying essential goods uninterrupted. Notably, rail transport will play a crucial role in the reduction of the transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions over the coming years. This has once again put the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) high on the political agenda in the European institutions and numerous Member States over the past months - especially as we witness the increased interest in digitalising the Union’s rail system.