Rail Sector welcomes Letta Report on the future of the Single Market

News19 Apr 2024

Rail Sector welcomes Letta Report on the future of the Single Market

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) warmly welcomes the Report authored by Former Italian Prime Minister and President of the Jacques Delors Institute Enrico Letta 'Much more than a market. Speed Security, Solidarity. Empowering the Single Market to deliver a sustainable future and prosperity for all EU Citizens'. The key priorities identified to guarantee efficient and sustainable continent-wide mobility are fully shared by the European rail sector.

Tasked by the European Council to assess the fitness of the EU Single Market and elaborate proposals for its strengthening and improvement, Enrico Letta presented a report on 17 April which underlines and recognises the validity of many CER messages.

The Report is aligned with CER's assessment of the scarcity of public budget, the need to scale-up the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and to explore new ways to attract private investments. It describes the need for a functioning intermodal Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the importance of an adequately sized funding facility and underlines the value of high-speed passenger rail services with specific reference to the importance of connecting European capitals and major urban hubs via high-speed rail infrastructure.

Significant attention in the report is dedicated to the key technological enablers of railways - the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) for digital freight services, and Digital Capacity Management (DCM) - and it calls for a good governance to be established in order to ensure their deployment. Mr Letta also mentions the issue of ticketing and recognises the progress made under sector-led initiatives.

The CER Ticketing Roadmap is one such initiative under implementation and includes the Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM) as a flagship solution that enables and enhances many actions in the roadmap, like the CIT Agreement on Journey Continuation.

CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola said "We welcome very much this Report and hope it will be one of the main sources of inspiration for future EU policy making. The Report backs the calls put forward in the CER manifesto On Track for Europe, from the role of high-speed rail connecting European capitals and major urban hubs to the need for a fast deployment of ERTMS and DAC, especially but not exclusively for rail freight transport."

You can find out more about the CER Manifesto 'On Track for Europe' here.