The European Union has adopted new rules on the use of railway infrastructure capacity, marking a significant step towards a more efficient, coordinated and reliable European rail network.
The Regulation aims to optimise the use of increasingly congested rail infrastructure across the EU by introducing a more harmonised approach to capacity planning. The new framework is expected to improve punctuality and reliability for both passenger and freight services, while facilitating smoother cross-border rail operations.
Under the current system, railway capacity management is largely organised annually, nationally and through manual procedures. This fragmented approach does not adequately support international rail traffic, particularly rail freight, where around half of all traffic crosses at least one national border.
The new rules seek to address these challenges by strengthening cross-border coordination and introducing multiannual planning for infrastructure capacity. The objective is to make better use of existing rail infrastructure and support the growing demand for rail transport across Europe.
Passengers are expected to benefit from more frequent rail services, improved punctuality and more reliable international connections. For companies, the regulation is intended to reduce bottlenecks at borders and improve the efficiency and predictability of rail freight transport across the Single Market. (....)