EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 30.7.2025

SWD(2025) 239 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Accompanying the document

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

Ninth monitoring report on the development of the rail market under Article 15(4) of


Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

{COM(2025) 439 final}

Contents

1.Rail and sustainability

1.1.Environmental performance of rail

1.1.1.Emissions

1.1.2.Energy consumption

1.1.3.Noise

1.2.Infrastructure expenditure and PSO compensation cost

1.3.Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the rail sector

2.The state of the union railway network

2.1.Description

2.1.1.Length of rail network and its evolution

2.1.2.Infrastructure density

2.1.3.Electrified lines

2.1.4.High-speed lines

2.2.Infrastructure management

2.2.1.Infrastructure governance

2.2.2.Infrastructure development and expenditure

2.2.3.Infrastructure funding and financing

(1)The Connecting Europe Facility

(2)Cohesion policy support for rail transport

(3)Financial instruments

(4)Horizon Europe

(5)Research and innovation - Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking

(6)Recovery and Resilience Facility

3.The evolution of rail services

3.1.Traffic volumes

3.2.The rail passenger market

3.2.1.Rail passenger policy developments

3.2.2.Evolution of rail passenger volumes

3.2.3.Evolution of rail passenger revenues

3.3.The rail freight market

3.3.1.Rail freight policy developments

3.3.2.Evolution of rail freight volumes

3.3.3.Evolution of rail freight revenues

3.3.4.Multimodal and intermodal transport

4.The evolution of services supplied to railway undertakings

4.1.Charging principles for service facilities, additional and ancillary services

4.2.Passenger stations

4.3.Other service facilities

4.4.Complaints related to access to service facilities

5.The evolution of framework conditions in the rail sector

6.The quality of rail services

7.Conclusions

Table of figures

Figure 1: Share of GHG emissions by transport mode (rail, road, domestic aviation, domestic navigation, pipeline transport, etc.) (% of million tonnes CO2 equivalent, EU27 2022)    

Figure 2: Share of each transport mode (including rail) on total energy consumption per country (% in 2022)    

Figure 3: Cost of railways per inhabitant (infrastructure expenditure plus PSO compensation, 2018-2022)    

Figure 4: Length of national networks per country (thousand line-km, 2022) and relative change (2018-2022)    

Figure 5: Density of railway network relative to surface area and population per country (line-km per million people and line-km per thousand km2, 2022)    

Figure 6: Percentage of electrified network per country (2022) and change in the percentage of electrified network (2018 vs 2022)    

Figure 7: Development of high-speed lines in Europe, current and potential (line-km, current 2018-2022, further for those under construction)    

Figure 8: Length of dedicated high-speed line per country (line-km, 2018-2022)    

Figure 9: Expenditure on infrastructure and proportion of maintenance and renewals (EUR billion, 2018-2022)    

Figure 11: Infrastructure expenditure in real terms, 2018 price level (EUR billion, 2018-2022)    

Figure 11: Expenditure on infrastructure and proportion of maintenance and renewals per country (EUR billion, 2022)    

Figure 12: Expenditure on infrastructure per inhabitant per country (EUR, 2022)    

Figure 13: Expenditure on infrastructure per household per country (EUR, 2022)    

Figure 14: Expenditure on maintenance, renewal, and enhancement per line-km per country (EUR thousand, 2018-2022)    

Figure 15: Expenditure by category by country (EUR billion, average of 2018-2022)    

Figure 16: Expenditure on high-speed rail by typology of expenditure and by Member State (EUR billion, average 2018-2022)    

Figure 17: Rail infrastructure funding by source and country (EUR billion, 2022)    

Figure 18: Pillar 2 – Budget for clusters and for Joint Research Centre (EUR)    

Figure 19: Passenger and freight volumes (pax-km, tonne-km, and train-km, 2018-2022)    

Figure 20: Passenger and freight volumes, compound annual growth rate per country (%, 2018-2022)    

Figure 21: Relative share of passenger and freight train-km on total train-km per country (%, 2022)    

Figure 22: Utilisation of rail infrastructure for passenger transport per country (millions of pax-km per line-km, 2022)    

Figure 23: Utilisation of rail infrastructure for freight transport per country (millions of tonne-km per line-km, 2022)    

Figure 24: Propensity to travel by rail (pax-km per inhabitant, 2022)    

Figure 25: Passenger land transport modal split (% in 2018-2022)    

Figure 26: Passenger land transport modal split by country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points for rail (2018 and 2022)    

Figure 27: Evolution of rail passenger traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international in total traffic) (billion pax-km, 2018-2022)    

Figure 28: Passenger traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international on total) by country (pax-km in 2022)    

Figure 29: Compound annual growth rates of domestic, international, and total passenger traffic volumes per country (%, 2018-2022)    

Figure 30: Number of pax-km per passenger train-km per country (passenger trains’ load factor, 2022)    

Figure 31: Railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services per country (billion EUR, 2022)    

Figure 32: Railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services per pax-km per country (EUR per passenger-km, 2022)    

Figure 33: Railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services per train-km per country (EUR per passenger train-km, 2022)    

Figure 34: Sources of passenger railway undertakings’ revenue per country (% in 2022)    

Figure 35: Freight land transport modal split (%, 2018-2022)    

Figure 36: Freight land transport modal split by country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points for rail (2018-2022)    

Figure 37: Evolution of rail freight traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international in total traffic) (billion tonne-km, 2018-2022)    

Figure 38: Rail freight traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international on total) by country (tonne-km, 2022)    

Figure 39: Number of tonne-km per freight train-km per country (freight trains load factor, 2022)    

Figure 40: Railway undertakings’ revenues from freight transport services per country (billion EUR, 2022)    

Figure 41: Railway undertakings’ revenues from freight transport services in tonne-km per country (EUR per thousand tonne-km, 2022)    

Figure 42: Railway undertakings' revenues from freight transport services in freight train-km per country (EUR per freight train-km, 2022)    

Figure 43: Average distance between stations by country (km, 2022)    

Figure 44: Number of stations by passengers per day by country (2022)    

Figure 45: Proportion of stations by passengers per day by country (2022)    

Figure 46: Number of freight terminals by country (2022)    

Figure 47: Number of marshalling yards by country (2022)    

Figure 48: Number of maintenance facilities by country (2022)    

Figure 49: Number of maritime and port facilities linked to rail activity by country (2022)    

Figure 50: Number of refuelling facilities by country (2022)    

Figure 51: Number of complaints being processed, and decisions made by country (2022)    

Table of tables

Table 1: EU27 Main infrastructure managers with less than 100% share of total route length (2022)    

Table 2: Contractual agreements between competent authorities and infrastructure managers    

Table 3: CEF funding by transport mode (EUR billion, number of Actions)    

List of abbreviations

List of countries

Introduction

This Commission staff working document accompanies the Ninth Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on monitoring development of the rail market (‘the Ninth Report’). The data and graphs used in this document have been made available in Excel format on the DG MOVE website 1 .

Coverage of the Report

This document presents a non-exhaustive report 2 covering the main developments in the EU rail market, reflecting the topics listed in Article 15(4) of Directive 2012/34/EU establishing a single European railway area 3 (the ‘Recast Directive’), according to which the European Commission must report to the European Parliament and the Council every 2 years on:

1.the evolution of the internal market in rail services (Chapter 3)

2.services to be supplied to railway undertakings as per Annex II to the Recast Directive (Chapter 4)

3.the framework conditions (Chapter 5 and Chapter 6), including:

-infrastructure charging

-capacity allocation

-investment made in infrastructure

-developments regarding prices 4

-quality of rail transport services

-rail transport services covered by public service contracts (PSCs)

-licensing

-degree of market opening

-harmonisation between Member States

-development of employment and related social conditions

4.the state of the Union railway network (Chapter 2)

5.the utilisation of access rights (Chapter 5)

6.barriers to more effective rail services (Chapter 5 and Chapter 6)

7.infrastructure limitations (Chapter 5) and

8.the need for legislation (Conclusions).

An overview of rail as a sustainable mode of transport is also included (Chapter 1).

The focus of the Ninth Report and this accompanying staff working document is on developments between 2018 and 2022. Sources additional to the RMMS Regulation are used when assessing trends over longer periods of time.

The sources of data include responses to the Rail Market Monitoring Survey (‘the RMMS’), the EU Transport in Figures statistical pocketbook 5 , Eurostat 6 , IRG-RAIL, statistics collected by various sectoral organisations 7 and ad hoc presentations and studies. Contributions have also been considered from the Member States, national regulatory bodies and stakeholders participating in the Working Group for Rail Market Monitoring under the aegis of the Single European Railway Area Committee (SERAC).

All current EU Member States are covered, except Cyprus and Malta where there are no railways.

As Norway participates in the RMMS but is not a Member of the European Union, Norwegian data are shown in graphs per country but not included in EU27 totals and EU27 averages.

The implementing act for rail market monitoring

The first five RMMS reports drew on Member States’ voluntary responses to the RMMS questionnaire.

The Ninth Report is the fourth report to draw on the mandatory data collection set out in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1100 for rail market monitoring 8  (‘the RMMS Regulation’) applicable from 1 January 2016. The questionnaire annexed to the RMMS Regulation was developed in close cooperation with the Member States and stakeholders participating in the SERAC Working Group for Rail Market Monitoring. While building mainly on the previous RMMS, the new questionnaire added some new indicators, particularly related to revenues and traffic outputs, public service obligation (PSO), infrastructure charges and employment.

In addition, under the new regime, Member States’ reports have been submitted electronically and validated through exchanges with the Commission using the TRAMOS-Rail (Transport Monitoring System – Rail) web tool. Member States have until 31 December of each year to submit in TRAMOS-Rail the data from the RMMS questionnaire for the previous year. DG MOVE then reviews the consistency of inputs for each Member State in January, asking for additions or clarifications if needed. The process is closed by the end of the first quarter. Every 2 years, when preparing the biennial report, DG MOVE performs more in-depth data checks across countries and years to verify the coherence and consistency of the RMMS database. Estimates or other reliable data sources are used in case of data gaps. Finally, time series are checked against data published in the previous RMMS report and other similar (though not fully comparable) data to identify and explain any major deviation. Estimates, alternative sources, and discontinuities are duly reported in the relevant parts of the accompanying staff working document.

The refinements implemented during the transitional period ended in 2018 may have led some Member States to alter the data and approach they use to respond, which may result in some comparability issues over time. However, steps have been proactively taken by both the Commission and Member States to ensure that these comparability issues have been minimised wherever possible. The Commission has started discussions with Member States to identify developments in the rail market, improvements in data availability, new methodologies, definitions, and methods of collecting data that may make it desirable to amend the RMMS questionnaire in the Annex to the RMMS Regulation.

1.Rail and sustainability

Reducing pollution and promoting healthier habits and ways of life more respectful of our environment is a major political objective across Europe. With respect to transport, travellers and shippers are increasingly conscious of the sustainability of their choices.

Transport plays a key role in the transition to a more sustainable economy. The entire transport sector accounts for 26.2% of the total GHG emissions in the EU27, of which less than 0.1% is generated by rail.

The European Green Deal 9 calls for a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport, for the EU to become a climate-neutral economy by 2050, while also working towards a zero-pollution ambition.

In this context, there are opportunities for rail, as one of the greener and safer transport modes. The role of rail is acknowledged and reflected in EU policy goals, as expressed in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy 10 :

·Doubling high-speed traffic by 2030, tripling it by 2050

·Making scheduled collective travel of under 500 km carbon neutral within the EU by 2030

·Doubling rail freight traffic by 2050

·Making the multimodal Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) equipped for sustainable and smart transport with high-speed connectivity will be operational for the comprehensive network by 2050.

1.1.Environmental performance of rail

Rail has the potential to play a significant role in accelerating the reduction of transport emissions, being the most carbon-efficient motorised way to travel. In 2022, rail accounted for only 0.6% of total EU27 energy consumption in transport, while carrying 16.6% of goods and 8.1% of passengers of all transport modes (land, air, and waterways).

1.1.1.Emissions

The transport sector (including international aviation and maritime) accounts for one quarter of the total GHG emissions 11 in the EU27. Within the transport sector, Figure 1  shows how rail represented only 0.3% of GHG emissions from all transport modes in the EU27, while continuing to be the only mode to have almost continuously reduced such emissions since 1990 12 . In 2022, the GHG emissions from air transport accounted for 11.8%, while in 2018 they were responsible for 13.2%. Conversely, the share of GHG emissions from road transport increased from to 71.7% in 2018 to 73,2% in 2022.

Figure 1: Share of GHG emissions by transport mode (rail, road, domestic aviation, domestic navigation, pipeline transport, etc.) (% of million tonnes CO2 equivalent, EU27 2022)

Source: Statistical Pocketbook, 2024

1.1.2.Energy consumption

The transport sector accounted for 31.0% of the total final energy consumption in the EU27 in 2022. Within the transport sector, rail accounted for only 0.6% of the final energy consumption. The distribution per country is available in Figure 3 .

Figure 2: Share of each transport mode (including rail) on total energy consumption per country (% in 2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ten00124/default/table?lang=en)

1.1.3.Noise

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), environmental noise is an important public health issue with negative impacts on human health and well-being, featuring among the top environmental risks to health. European Environment Agency (EEA) figures for 2017 show that the number of people exposed to harmful noise levels produced by railways, although significant, is lower than the number of people exposed to harmful noise levels produced by road 13 .

Railway noise affects nearly 22 million people (of which approximately 10.9 million people exposed to railway noise outside urban areas and approximately 10.7 million people exposed to railway noise inside urban areas 14 ).

Freight transport is the main responsible of railway noise. Given that more than 50% of rail freight wagons run across borders, any attempt to reduce rail noise at source needs a coordinated European response. The most cost-efficient measure to achieve this reduction is the retrofitting of existing freight wagons with ‘silent’, composite brake blocks, replacing cast iron brake blocks. Recently built wagons are already equipped with composite brake blocks, thereby complying with the more stringent noise limit values introduced in 2011.

Several initiatives have been already adopted at the EU level to reduce noise exposure. These include:

-the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC

-the technical specification for interoperability (TSI) on noise, which was revised in 2019 15  

-financial assistance under the CEF for the retrofitting of rail freight wagons with ‘silent’ brake technology 16 (which to date has allowed for the co-financing of retrofitting of some 207 000 ‘noisy’ wagons, with the recent 2021 CEF-call still being implemented), and

-until December 2021, a European framework laying down modalities for noise-differentiated track access charges 17 .

However, despite the efforts of the Commission and Member States, there is still a risk that excessive levels of railway noise can lead to uncoordinated unilateral actions by Member States, such as applying speed limits and restrictions on operating at night.

The 2019 revision of the TSI Noise mandates the introduction of ‘quieter routes’ from December 2024. With its further amendment in 2023, implementation rules have been introduced for the application of that TSI to already existing wagons as well as to wagons operating on those ‘quieter routes’. This affects the railway lines in the EU with the busiest freight traffic, on which only ‘silent’ freight wagons, meeting a specific noise limit, may be operated. By the end of 2017, some 350 000 freight wagons present in the EU still needed to be retrofitted with ‘silent’ brake blocks 18 . By mid-2020 this number had fallen to approximately 100 000, excluding freight wagons that cannot be retrofitted for technical reasons, as well as freight wagons for which retrofitting would not be economically feasible. In the TSI Noise revisions planned for 2029 and later, the Commission together with ERA and Member States will be working to introduce further requirements with the objective to further decrease rail noise, like defining specification for composite brake blocks (silent brake blocks) for Nordic winter conditions as well as defining noise limits for parked trains.

The Commission has evaluated Commission Implementing Regulation on noise differentiated track access charges (EU) 2015/429 (NDTAC). Based on the results of the evaluation, the Commission has repealed this Implementing Regulation in 2024.

1.2.Infrastructure expenditure and PSO compensation cost

In 2022, the total cost of railways, defined as infrastructure expenditure (irrespective of the funding source 19 ) plus PSO compensation, was around EUR 178.31 per EU27 inhabitant, which is an increase of 29% in nominal terms compared to 2018. This results from a 31% increase in infrastructure expenditure and a 26% increase in PSO compensation according to the figures reported in the RMMS ( Figure 3 ). By way of comparison, over the same period both the Eurostat “Construction producer prices or costs, new residential buildings” 20 index (used as a proxy to assess the increase in infrastructure expenditure cost) as well as the “Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)”  21 indexes increased by about 25%, suggesting that a large part of the increase in both infrastructure expenditure and PSO compensation was driven by inflation.

Figure 3: Cost of railways per inhabitant (infrastructure expenditure plus PSO compensation, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022, Eurostat, 2022

1.3.Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the rail sector

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the European rail sector from 2020 to 2022, particularly on passenger services, as the demand declined due to travel restrictions and confinement measures.

The monthly rail traffic figures provided to the Commission by infrastructure managers in the context of Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 22 show that the pandemic had in general a higher impact on passenger services than on freight services, with some differences among Member States.

Passenger services

Regarding passenger services, the significant impact of decreased demand due to the pandemic is illustrated in Figure 20 . Passenger kilometres fell from 412 billion in 2019 to 223 billion in 2020, marking a 46% decline within the EU27. Over the following two years, demand rebounded to 96% of the 2019 level, reaching 395 billion passenger kilometres by 2022. It is important to note, however, that if the pre-pandemic growth trend continued after 2019, the rail passenger kilometres would now be some 13% higher. So, it is still early to claim a full recovery in passenger services.

The reduction in passenger numbers also led to a decrease in railway companies’ revenues from passenger services, which include commercial fares, PSO (Public Service Obligation) fares, and PSO compensation. Total revenue in the EU27 declined from EUR 57.5 billion in 2019 to EUR 47.04 billion in 2020. By 2022, revenue had recovered to EUR 61.83 billion, surpassing 2019 levels. This recovery (107%) notably outpaced the recovery in passenger numbers (96%), primarily driven by an increase in PSO compensation from EUR 23.56 billion to EUR 28.67 billion.

International passenger traffic as a share of total traffic nearly halved to 4% in 2020, as international travel was more restricted than domestic travel due to the pandemic. By 2022, however, the proportion of international passenger traffic had returned to its pre-pandemic level of 6.8%.

Freight services

Freight services registered a smaller impact, as the provision of goods had to be maintained due to its crucial role for basic services. Figure 20 shows that the total tonne kilometres declined from 422 billion in 2019 to 405.5 billion in 2020. This decline was already recovered in 2021, with total tonne-kilometres exceeding the 2019 level.

Consequently, the reduction of railway undertakings’ revenues was also lower for the freight services than for passenger services, with a decline of 7.5% between 2019 and 2020. This decline has already been recovered with 2022 revenues exceeding 2019 revenues by 15%. In contrast to the passenger services, the proportion of international freight traffic remained stable with a share of 54% in 2020.

Measures by the Commission

The European Commission, European Parliament and Member States have supported the sector with specific and temporary measures, supporting transport stakeholders in dealing with the challenges 23 . These measures aimed at ensuring the continuity of supply chains and at reducing regulatory burden and costs for transport companies, e.g. via waivers or postponements relating to certificates, licences and authorisations, measures to ensure the cross-border mobility of transport staff. As specific support for the rail sector, the Commission proposed to the European Parliament and the Council to adopt Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 24 allowing Member States to reduce, waive or suspend access charges due by the railway undertakings to infrastructure managers, to counteract the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020. The Regulation left to Member States the decision on whether to derogate from the rules of Directive 2012/34/EU that for the use of the rail infrastructure impose, as a minimum, the charging of the direct cost caused by the train operation. The Regulation required Member States to compensate infrastructure managers for the financial losses due to the possible derogation. The reference period of the Regulation was extended four times until its final end-date of December 31, 2022.

In 2023 the Commission launched a study to assess the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rail sector. The Study was concluded in 2024 25 .

2.The state of the union railway network

2.1.Description

2.1.1.Length of rail network and its evolution

The reported length of the national rail networks of the EU Member States and Norway 26 are shown in  Figure 4 .

Figure 4: Length of national networks per country (thousand line-km, 2022) and relative change (2018-2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ttr00003/default/table?lang=en&category=t_rail)

In 2022, the total length of the EU27 rail network was around 202 131 line-kilometres, a slight increase of 0.1% compared to 2018. Spain and Hungary show the highest relative change since 2018. Germany is the country with the largest network with more than 39 000 line-kilometres.

2.1.2.Infrastructure density

Figure 5 illustrates the diversity of railways in the different Member States. It compares the number of line kilometres per thousand square kilometres, on the horizontal axis, with the number of line kilometres per million inhabitants, on the vertical axis.

Figure 5: Density of railway network relative to surface area and population per country (line-km per million people and line-km per thousand km2, 2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ttr00003/default/table?lang=en&category=t_rail)

The figure shows how the rail network of Nordic and Baltic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) is very dense when related to their population, but quite sparse if related to their surface area. On the other hand, countries like Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, have a very dense rail network when related to their territory, but sparse when related to their population. In Greece, the rail network is sparse both in relation to the population and the country’s surface area, whereas Czechia has the densest network when looking at both indicators.

2.1.3.Electrified lines

Figure 6 shows the proportion of the electrified network in 2022, measured in line-kilometres, and the relative change compared to 2018.

Figure 6: Percentage of electrified network per country (2022) and change in the percentage of electrified network (2018 vs 2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/rail_if_tracks/default/table?lang=en&category=rail.rail_if)

In 2022 57% of the total EU27 had been network electrified, although the proportion varies from 3% in Ireland to 91% in Luxembourg. Since 2018 the network electrification rate has increased by 1.4%. 

According to the latest PRIME benchmarking report, in 2022, around 82% of total train-kilometres were travelled thanks to electricity-powered trains 27 .

2.1.4.High-speed lines

The Commission reports every year statistics on high-speed lines, which are defined as the lines or sections of lines on which trains can go faster than 250 km/h at some point during the journey 28 .

Figure 7 shows the development of the EU’s high-speed network, which by the end of 2022 extended to 12 015 line-kilometres. When also considering the length of high-speed lines currently reported under construction, the estimated EU27 network will increase to 13 616 line-kilometres in 2035.

Figure 7: Development of high-speed lines in Europe, current and potential (line-km, current 2018-2022, further for those under construction)

Source: Statistical Pocketbook, 2024

The EU27 high-speed network increased by almost 1 100 km between 2018 and 2022. Figure 8 shows how the length of high-speed lines evolved from 2018 to 2022 in different countries.

Figure 8: Length of dedicated high-speed line per country (line-km, 2018-2022)

Source: Statistical Pocketbook, 2024

Spain is the country with the largest high-speed network with almost 4 000 line-kilometres in 2022. No new lines were added to the relatively small networks in Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands between 2018 and 2022.

2.2.Infrastructure management

2.2.1.Infrastructure governance

An efficient management and adequate funding of the rail infrastructure is crucial for the provision of efficient and sustainable rail transport services.

Member States often have a single national infrastructure manager responsible for the entire national network. In other cases, the main infrastructure manager operates together with smaller ones responsible for specific lines, regional infrastructure, or service facilities as shown in Table 1 .

Table 1: EU27 Main infrastructure managers with less than 100% share of total route length (2022)

Source: Twelfth Annual Market Monitoring Working Document, IRG-Rail 2024

EU transport policy aims to set the legal framework for infrastructure managers and Member States to provide efficient rail infrastructure services. Maintaining the infrastructure is crucial for the competitiveness of the rail system. However, there is still concern about the sustainable financing of existing rail infrastructure, the quality of infrastructure service and the issue of how to get infrastructure managers to perform better.

Article 30(2) of Directive 2012/34/EU provides for contractual agreement to be concluded between the competent authority and the infrastructure manager, covering a period of not less than 5 years, and including elements as specified in the Directive. Table 2 shows the contractual agreements as reported in 2022 by Member States in the RMMS. The presence of several contractual agreements typically indicates:

·Multiple Infrastructure Managers, each responsible for a different part of the network;

·Rail infrastructure being managed at both national and regional levels, with different authorities signing separate contracts with the infrastructure manager to cover their specific networks.

Table 2: Contractual agreements between competent authorities and infrastructure managers

Source: RMMS, 2022

2.2.2.Infrastructure development and expenditure

On 13 June 2024, the revised Regulation for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) was adopted (Regulation (EU)2024/1679). The revised Regulation significantly enhances EU efforts to build a sustainable and resilient multimodal network as the backbone of the internal market.

The new TEN-T ensures reliable connectivity throughout the EU by 2050, promotes green mobility in view of addressing the climate change challenges, advances digitalisation, and improves multimodality.

To this end, the revised TEN-T Regulation sets ambitious quality standards and targets for all transport modes but puts a special emphasis on railways. To give a few examples it requires:

·Electrification and a minimum axle load of 22.5 t on the entire network;

·A loading gauge requirement (27 cm) to allow for the circulation of semi-trailers on main lines of the European Transport Corridors;

·A 160 km/h minimum design speed requirement for all passenger lines to boost the existing high-speed rail network across Europe;

·A 100 km/h minimum design speed requirements for freight lines;

·A 740 m train length requirement on the entire network, matched with targets of train path allocation for 740 m long trains;

·A better distribution of multimodal freight terminals with adequate transhipment capacity across Europe;

·An increased number of multimodal passenger hubs and a better connection of airports to the long-distance railway infrastructure;

·The integration of the 11 Rail Freight Corridors with the 9 Core Network Corridors into 9 European Transport Corridors;

·The deployment of ERTMS across the entire TEN-T network as the single European signalling system and the gradual de-commissioning of national class-B systems by 2040, 2045 and 2050.

Overall, the vision is to gradually develop a trans-European transport network at highest standards in three steps: the completion of a core network by 2030, of an extended core network by 2040 and the completion of the comprehensive network by 2050.

The investment needs associated to the realisation of the TEN-T core network by 2030 (taking into account also the new requirements of the revised TEN-T) are estimated at around EUR 515 bn. In addition, the investment needs to implement the new TEN-T requirements for the core network and for the completion of the extended core network are estimated at approximately EUR 330 bn until 2040. This would bring the total investment needs to complete the core and extended core TEN-T to EUR 845 bn during the next fifteen years.

Enhancing rail infrastructure investments is also one of the main objectives of national transport policies. Member States have the obligation, stemming from Article 8 of Directive 2012/34/EU, to publish an indicative rail infrastructure development strategy to meet future mobility needs in terms of maintenance, renewal and development of their infrastructure based on sustainable financing of the railway system.

Figure 9 shows the total annual infrastructure expenditure as the sum of network maintenance, renewals, upgrades, and investments into new infrastructure of the EU27 Member States for the years 2018 to 2022 for EU27. The dotted line indicates the share of maintenance and renewals on total infrastructure expenditure.

Figure 9: Expenditure on infrastructure and proportion of maintenance and renewals (EUR billion, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Total EU27 infrastructure expenditure rose from EUR 38.7 billion in 2018 to EUR 50.8 billion in 2022. In 2022, 25% of the expenditure was on maintenance, 25% on renewals, 26% on upgrades and 24% on investments into new infrastructure.

Between 2018 and 2022, the share of maintenance and renewals expenditures into the existing network slightly decreased, whereas the share of new investments increased.

Figure 11 shows the total annual infrastructure expenditure per country in 2022 as the sum of network maintenance, renewals, upgrades, and investments into new infrastructure. The horizontal bar chart indicates the relative share of maintenance and renewals of existing infrastructure in total annual expenditures.

Figure 11: Expenditure on infrastructure and proportion of maintenance and renewals per country (EUR billion, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Total infrastructure expenditure in 2022 was highest in Germany, France, Italy, and Austria. Austria, Norway, and Italy had the highest expenditure for new infrastructure, whereas the highest expenditure for infrastructure upgrades was reported in Germany, Italy, and Poland 29 . In 2022, total maintenance and renewal expenditure in the EU27 amounted to EUR 25.2 billion, i.e. 50% of the total expenditure. The highest proportion was for Estonia (100%), and the lowest was for Greece (10%).

Figure 12 shows the total annual infrastructure expenditure per inhabitant in 2022 per country.

Figure 12: Expenditure on infrastructure per inhabitant per country (EUR, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022; Eurostat, 2022

In 2022 the average infrastructure expenditure per inhabitant in the EU27 was EUR 114. The highest expenditures were made in Luxembourg, with EUR 649 per inhabitant, and the lowest in Greece with EUR 10 per inhabitant.

If the infrastructure expenditure is expressed per household, the EU27 average was EUR 256 in 2022. Looking at the distribution per country ( Figure 13 ), again Luxembourg reports the highest value with EUR 1 543 per household.

Between 2018 and 2022, the highest increase in the average expenditure per inhabitant was recorded in Portugal (225%) and Hungary (146%).

Figure 13: Expenditure on infrastructure per household per country (EUR, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022, Eurostat, 2022. RO not available. Household data for NO not available in Eurostat, taken from Statistics Norway 30 .

Figure 14 shows the sum of annual infrastructure maintenance, renewal, and enhancement expenditure per line kilometre per country for the years 2018 to 2022.

Figure 14: Expenditure on maintenance, renewal, and enhancement per line-km per country (EUR thousand, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022, Statistical Pocketbook, 2024. RO not available.

The EU27 average increased from around EUR 151 743 per line-kilometre in 2018 to EUR 191 092 per line kilometre in 2022. Luxembourg reported the highest expenditure, whereas Greece is at the lowest end of the surveyed countries.

Figure 15 shows the average annual infrastructure expenditure per country from 2018 to 2022 as a sum of average expenditures for conventional lines, high-speed lines, major stations, and major freight terminals.

Figure 15: Expenditure by category by country (EUR billion, average of 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Average total infrastructure expenditure was highest in Germany, France, and Italy. The same applies for expenditure for conventional lines. Average expenditure for high-speed lines was highest in France and Spain. According to the figures reported in the RMMS 31 , expenditure for major stations was highest in Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Czechia, while expenditure for major freight terminals was highest in Austria.

Figure 16 shows the data available on average annual expenditure dedicated to high-speed lines between 2018 and 2022.

Figure 16: Expenditure on high-speed rail by typology of expenditure and by Member State (EUR billion, average 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Spain was the Member State which allocated most of its expenditure on high-speed rails between 2018 and 2022 (on average EUR 1.5 billion per year), followed by France and Germany with EUR 1.4 and 1.0 respectively. In these three countries most funds were allocated to new infrastructure, whereas upgrades and renewals played a minor role.

2.2.3.Infrastructure funding and financing

Overall, the EU27 Member States reported EUR 40.65 billion of funding for rail infrastructure in 2022. National budgets contributed to total expenditure and investment by 70%, whereas EU co-financing accounted for 8%. The remaining share of financing with 22% for EU27 came from other sources, including loans, equity financing and charges. Germany, Poland, and France show a significant share of own funds. Bulgaria had the highest share of EU funds in funding, whereas Poland had received the highest sum from EU funds ( Figure 17 ).

Figure 17: Rail infrastructure funding by source and country (EUR billion, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

(1)The Connecting Europe Facility

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) 32 is a key EU funding instrument in delivering the European Green Deal and an important enabler towards the Union’s decarbonisation objectives for 2030 and 2050. With a budget of EUR 30.5 billion for the years 2014 to 2020 and EUR 33.7 billion for the years 2021 to 2027, it supports the development of high performing, sustainable and efficiently interconnected trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy, and digital services.

Within the CEF, the CEF Transport supports the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy. It aims at supporting investments in building new transport infrastructure in Europe or rehabilitating and upgrading the existing one. It focuses on cross-border projects and projects aiming at removing bottlenecks or bridging missing links, as well as for horizontal priorities such as traffic management systems. It also supports innovation in the transport system to improve the use of infrastructure, reduce the environmental impact of transport, enhance energy efficiency, and increase safety. Finally, it contributes to a more environmentally friendly transport sector with more than 80% of the planned investments addressing sustainable transport modes.

CEF Transport 2021-2027

Between 2021 and 2027 CINEA will manage EUR 25.8 billion to support transport infrastructure projects throughout the EU and beyond. A total of EUR 11.29 billion will be earmarked for countries eligible to receive support from the cohesion Fund. CEF transport will also aim to improve military mobility within the EU, with EUR 1.69 billion earmarked to fund dual-use infrastructure compatible with both civilian and military needs.

Since 2021, CEF Transport has already supported 499 projects with EUR 14.6 billion in EU funding. Cohesion countries (excluding AFIF) receive EUR 5.6 billion, Military Mobility projects receive EUR 1.7 billion and EUR 1.3 billion is invested under the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Facility, the remaining EUR 6 billion is invested under the general envelope.

CEF Transport 2014-2020

A total of 32 calls for proposals have been concluded for the implementation of 2014-2020 financial envelope of the CEF, supporting 1 036 Actions with EUR 22.8 billion in funding.

A predominant part of the CEF grants (74%) has been allocated to railway actions, as shown in Table 3 . Many Actions have already been successfully concluded, while the remaining ones are expected to be closed in 2024.

Table 3: CEF funding by transport mode (EUR billion, number of Actions)

Source: CINEA, 2024. Furthermore, CEF Transport supported 34 Programme Support Actions (PSAs).

More than 300 CEF Transport co-funded actions aim to build, adapt, upgrade, and improve 4,300 kilometres of railway lines all over Europe. The total indicative investment in these actions is EUR 30 billion, of which EUR 15 billion is EU support. Within the 4,300 km of new or upgraded rail lines CEF Transport Actions aim to 33 :

·Electrify (including upgrades) around 3,000 km of line tracks and sidings;

·Construct/upgrade 4,000 km of freight or mixed lines;

·Adapt more than 500 km of railway to the European standard gauge.

The European Rail Traffic Management System – ERTMS (a command-and-control system composed of the European Train Control System – ETCS and the data/radio communication system) is a major EU horizontal railway priority aiming at increasing rail transport safety, capacity and interoperability of the railway network. CEF Transport funds 70 Actions implementing ERTMS with a total CEF support of more than EUR 900 million. CEF1 Transport Actions contribute to:

1.ERTMS track-side deployment, including:

-4,467 km of first deployment and

-Upgrade of the old baselines of existing system on more than 840 km of railway lines.

2.ERTMS on-board deployment

-Retrofitting of 1,465 vehicles

-Upgrade of 562 vehicles

-Fitment of 766 vehicles

-Prototype on 86 vehicles

(2)Cohesion policy support for rail transport

Although the TEN-T is the backbone of the European rail transport network, for the development of a European transport system which offers seamless and safe door-to-door mobility, the other layers of the rail network, at national, regional and local level, are also important because they ensure connectivity to the TEN-T and thus play a key role in meeting the daily regional and local mobility needs of citizens and businesses. Whereas the Connecting Europe Facility and Cohesion policy support TEN-T, Cohesion policy also pays attention to improving access to TEN-T, connecting regions to the large railway networks, allowing for proper transport and public transport connections with citizens’ places of work, hospitals, education centres, etc., integrating transport in place-based regional development plans.

Cohesion policy support to transport 2021-2027

EU Cohesion policy provides co-financing for investments that mitigate territorial disparities in transport infrastructure and in facilitating the green and digital transitions to the transport sector. The European Rail Traffic Management System will be deployed across the entire TEN-T network, enhancing rail safety and efficiency. Major airports with over 12 million passengers annually must be connected by long-distance rail, making rail a competitive alternative to airplanes. Freight terminals will help the shift to sustainable transport modes.

Efficient rail transport of goods and passengers is crucial to the EU economic and social cohesion, strengthening EU cohesion by linking the major cities, urban nodes, maritime and inland ports, airports, and multimodal terminals. Cohesion policy supports a significant share of the public investments in transport in EU Member States and regions. In Poland for example, ERDF and Cohesion Fund cover 33% of all rail investments in 2021-2027.

For the programming period 2021-2027, Cohesion policy has allocated EUR 59.3 billion to transport and mobility investments under Policy Objective 3 (TEN-T, non-TEN-T, and connecting infrastructure) and Special Objective 2.8 (sustainable urban transport): EUR 34.6 billion ERDF, EUR 24.2 billion Cohesion Fund, and EUR 550 million from the Just Transition Fund; predominantly (97%) to the less developed (‘Cohesion’) Member States. EUR 18.2 billion (30.7%) has been dedicated to railway infrastructure and rolling stock. In addition, EUR 11.3 billion from the Cohesion Fund has been transferred to the Connecting Europe Facility and earmarked for countries eligible to receive support from the Cohesion Fund, to support TEN-T infrastructure investments, mostly railways.

EUR 18.2 billion or 31% of the Cohesion policy allocations to transport is dedicated to completing railway networks and rolling stock: EUR 6.2 billion to core TEN-T, EUR 4.5 billion to comprehensive TEN-T, EUR 4.5 billion to other railway, including cross-border sections to connect with neighbouring networks, EUR 2.5 billion to rail rolling stock, and EUR 0.55 billion to ERTMS and digitalisation of railway transport. This financial support should result into:

·Length of new / reconstructed / upgraded / modernised TEN-T lines: 3 905 km

·Length of ERTMS equipped TEN-T lines: 1 549 km (+ 66 km non-TEN-T)

·Length of non-TEN-T new / reconstructed / upgraded / modernised lines: 1 952 km

·New / modernised railway stations and stops: 135 (+ 178 urban rail under Specific Objective 2.8)

Cohesion policy support to transport 2014-2020

In the programming period 2014-2020, EUR 69.1 billion in Cohesion policy funds were allocated to transport investments. Some selected output indicators (December 2023):

·Length of reconstructed or upgraded railway lines: 2 164 km (planned 4 544 km)

·Length of new TEN-T railway lines: 146 km (planned 422 km)

·Length of newly built TEN-T roads: planned 2 507 km, implemented 2 492 km

·Length of new / improved tram and metro lines: 257 km (planned 543 km)

(3)Financial instruments

In addition to grants, the EU supports investments through financial guarantees, in partnership with the EIB and other Promotional Banks. As of 2022, such guarantees are provided under the InvestEU Programme 34 .

InvestEU consolidates under the same umbrella both the EU financial instruments and their related advisory facilities. It is expected to mobilise more than EUR 372 billion of public and private investment through an EU budget guarantee of EUR 26.2 billion that backs the investment of financial partners such as the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and others.

InvestEU supports four Policy Windows, focusing on investments where the EU can add the most value:

1.Sustainable infrastructure

Financing projects in sustainable energy, digital connectivity, transport, the circular economy, water, waste, other environment infrastructure and more.

2.Research, innovation and digitalisation

Financing projects in research and innovation, taking research results to the market, digitisation of industry, scaling up larger innovative companies, artificial intelligence and more.

3.Small and medium-sized companies

Facilitating access to finance for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), small mid-cap companies, including innovative ones and those operating in the cultural and creative sectors.

4.Social investment and skills

Financing projects in skills, education, training, social housing, schools, universities, hospitals, social innovation, healthcare, long-term care and accessibility, microfinance, social enterprise, integration of migrants, refugees, and vulnerable people, and more.

The EU guarantee for the Sustainable Infrastructure window amounts to EUR 9.9 billion without ring fencing between infrastructure sectors, as the instrument is demand driven. Under this policy window, at least 60% of the investment should contribute to meeting the Union objectives on climate and environment. Rail infrastructure and rolling stock are eligible for support.

(4)Horizon Europe

Within the Horizon Europe’s second pillar dedicated to global challenges and European industrial competitiveness, EUR 15.2 billion have been allocated to cluster 5, which includes mobility.

Figure 18: Pillar 2 – Budget for clusters and for Joint Research Centre (EUR)

(5)Research and innovation - Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking 

The rail research and innovation are done beyond traditional work programmes in Horizon Europe in the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail)  35 , established by Council Regulation (EU) No 2021/2085 36 .

The general aim of the partnership is to ensure a fast transition to more attractive, user-friendly, competitive, affordable, easy to maintain, efficient and sustainable European rail system, integrated into the wider mobility system. EU-Rail will support the development of a strong and globally competitive European rail industry while contributing towards the achievement of the Single European Railway Area (SERA). Europe’s Rail will develop research and innovation actions in the following areas:

1.European Rail Traffic Management and supporting rail’s key role in a multimodal transport system

2.Digital and Automated Train Operations

3.Sustainable and Digital Assets

4.Competitive digital green rail freight

5.Smart solutions for low density traffic lines (cost-efficient regional lines)

EU-Rail novelty compared to its predecessor (Shift2Rail) is the setup of a System Pillar that ought to help the sector to coordinate and converge on a common evolution of the rail as a system. The System Pillar will:

·Define the fundamental design principles and a layered functional architecture for rail as a system (as has been used for decades in many industries such as aviation, defence, energy, and telecoms).

·Harmonise this system architecture approach at European level, including standardisation of interfaces, communications, and data exchange.

·Consider the migration path from current systems to the future system.

·Ensure that the long-term system view can be reflected in a predictable regulatory framework, while modularity ensures the necessary flexibility to innovate.

All these activities together with exploratory research should result in:

·Meeting evolving customer requirements

·Improved performance and capacity

·Reduced costs

·More sustainable transport

·Harmonised approach to evolution and greater adaptability

·Reinforced role for rail in European transport and mobility

·Improved EU rail supply industry competitiveness

The overall budget of EU-Rail is EUR 1 267 million and the maximum financial contribution of the Union to the joint undertaking is EUR 600 million.

EU-Rail has launched its first call in 2022 with demonstrators expected in 2025. Further demonstrators will follow in 2027 and 2031.

(6)Recovery and Resilience Facility

Entered into force on February 2021, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is a temporary recovery instrument aiming to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient, and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.

The RRF finances reforms and investments in Member States from the start of the pandemic in February 2020 until 31 December 2026. It makes available to Member States EUR 723.8 billion (in current prices), part in the form of loans (EUR 385.8 billion) and part in the form of grants (EUR 338 billion).

The RRF is structured around six pillars:

(1)green transition

(2)digital transformation

(3)smart sustainable and inclusive growth

(4)social and territorial cohesion

(5)health and economic, social, and institutional resilience and

(6)policies for the next generation.

To benefit from the support of the RRF, Member States submit their recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) to the European Commission. Each plan sets out the reforms and investments to be implemented by end-2026 and Member States can receive financing up to a previously agreed allocation.

Under the national RRPs financed by the RRF, almost EUR 50 billion was allocated to railways. The rail investments foreseen in 21 Member States relate mainly to the development of the rail infrastructure (creation and upgrade of lines, stations, ERTMS equipment), including on the TEN-T network, but also to digitalisation (e.g. ticketing, information system), accessibility for passenger with reduced mobility and deployment of new more environment-friendly rolling stock.

3.The evolution of rail services

Traffic volume indicators of this section expressed in passenger kilometres and tonne kilometres are based on RMMS data as available from 2005 on. This data covers exactly the scope of Directive 2012/34/EU and provides breakdowns of volumes in terms of market segments (passenger/freight, domestic/international, PSO/non-PSO). Eurostat also reports traffic volumes in passenger kilometres and tonne kilometres per country, but figures could show slight differences with those reported in the RMMS due to variations in the scope of reporting, potential double counting of transit volumes and adjustments performed in the RMMS (estimates and integration from other sources for missing data).

Since data on train kilometres has been reported in the RMMS only after the entry into force of Regulation 2015/1100, figures reported by Eurostat, UIC and IRG-Rail have been combined to acquire a dataset as complete as possible for the years before 2018.

Finally, to assess the modal split, which requires combining the data of different modes, only Eurostat data from the Statistical Pocketbook are used.

3.1.Traffic volumes

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are clear looking at the number of transported passengers, which almost halved in 2020 compared to 2019. The impact of the pandemic was more limited on rail freight traffic, which decreased in 2020 by less than 4% compared to 2019 levels. The decrease in total train kilometres from 2019 to 2020 was around 10%.

Figure 19: Passenger and freight volumes (pax-km, tonne-km, and train-km, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

On average, passenger traffic in terms of passenger kilometres in Europe decreased by 1% annually between 2018 and 2022 (CAGR), as shown by Figure 20 , which results from the combined effect of the pandemic and of a positive underlying trend. In fact, there has been a remarkable recovery after the pandemic, considering that the passenger kilometres shrank dramatically by 46% in the EU27 due to confinement or travel restrictions in 2020.

Between 2018 and 2022 freight traffic in terms of tonne kilometres increased annually by 1% (CAGR). The reduction from 2019 to 2020 was less radical than for passenger services, with only an 8% decline in the EU27, as freight service continued to maintain the provision of basic goods.

Figure 20: Passenger and freight volumes, compound annual growth rate per country (%, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The focus of rail transport varies between countries. On average, 79% of all train kilometres in the EU27 in 2022 were performed by passenger services.

Figure 21 shows that the highest share of passenger services in 2022 is reported for Ireland (98%), Denmark (96%), Luxembourg (95%). The highest share of freight services in 2022 is reported for Slovenia (51%), Lithuania (45%) and Latvia (40%).

Figure 21: Relative share of passenger and freight train-km on total train-km per country (%, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Figure 22 shows the intensity of use of the rail network for passenger transport measured in million passenger kilometres per line kilometre in 2022 per country.

Figure 22: Utilisation of rail infrastructure for passenger transport per country (millions of pax-km per line-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, the EU27 network was used by 1.95 million passenger kilometres per line kilometre on average. The Netherlands had by far the highest passenger traffic density (4.88), while Lithuania had the lowest (0.23). Overall, between 2018 and 2022 European passenger traffic density decreased by 0.06 million passenger kilometres per line kilometre. According to data available in the RMMS, over the same period the Netherlands reported the highest decrease (- 1.68 million passenger kilometres per line kilometre).

Figure 23 shows the intensity of use of the rail network for freight transport measured in million tonne kilometres per line kilometre in 2022 per country.

Figure 23: Utilisation of rail infrastructure for freight transport per country (millions of tonne-km per line-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, the EU27 rail network saw an average usage of 2.06 million tonne-kilometres per line kilometre. Slovenia and Austria reported the highest freight traffic density, with 4.3 million tonne-kilometres per line kilometre, while Ireland had the lowest at 0.04. From 2018 to 2022, freight traffic density across the EU27 decreased slightly by 0.10 million tonne-kilometres per line kilometre. According to RMMS data, Croatia saw the highest increase in freight traffic density (+0.30 million tonne-kilometres per line kilometre), while Latvia recorded the largest decrease (-6.78 million tonne-kilometres per line kilometre). The conflict between Russia and Ukraine notably impacted freight services in Baltic countries, with a decline of 49% in Lithuania and 40% in Estonia from 2021 to 2022. In Latvia, freight services had already fallen to their lowest level in 2021, before the war even started.

3.2.The rail passenger market

3.2.1.Rail passenger policy developments

On 14 December 2021, the Commission adopted the Efficient and green mobility package 37 , which includes the Action plan to boost long-distance and cross-border passenger rail. The Action plan follows up on the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy of December 2020 and presents concrete actions which are meant to contribute to achieving the ambitious milestone formulated for rail in the Strategy.

The Action plan contains 10 action areas which are meant to help removing obstacles to long-distance and cross-border passenger rail:

1.Better implementation of the Union rail acquis and accelerated interoperability

This action addresses the correct and full implementation of the four railway packages, removal of redundant national rules, accelerated roll-out of ERTMS, a revision of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability and the work of the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and of Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking. The follow-up of this action is ongoing and in 2023 a TSI package revising a number of key TSI’s has been adopted.

2.A strengthened infrastructure for passenger rail

This action addresses the revision of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) Regulation, which was adopted by European Parliament and Council in 2024 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1679 of 13 June 2024)

3.Sufficient rolling stock availability

In December 2021, the European Investment Bank (EIB) launched the Green Rail Investment Platform, to finance, among other things, rolling stock. Further, the ‘Luxembourg Protocol’ – that reduces risks when investing in rolling stock - has entered into force on 8 March 2024, and the revised LOC&PAS TSI includes “go-everywhere” specifications for passenger rolling stock. Ongoing financing programmes for fitting rolling stock with ERTMS.

4.Bringing train drivers and railway staff training and certification in line with future needs

This action addresses a revised regulatory framework for train drivers, expected for 2025, and the 2022 Year of Youth included initiatives to bring a career in rail under the attention of young people.

5.A more efficient use of the networks

In July 2023, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation on the use of infrastructure network capacity. The proposal has been assessed by the European Parliament and the Council. Trilogue started in November 2024.

6.Appropriate pricing for track access

The Commission is preparing guidelines, expected to be adopted in 2025, which aim to help the setting of track access charges which incentivise the uptake of new rail services, such as on the long-distance.

7.User-friendly ticketing and access to the rail system

This action addresses an initiative for a new Regulation on multimodal digital mobility services (MDMS), a new Regulation on Single Digital Booking and ticketing and associated initiatives on passenger rights for the whole trip, as well as the monitoring of compliance with the recently revised Rail Passenger Rights Regulation

8.A level playing field with other transport modes

This action addresses the Fit-for-55 package and a possible exemption of VAT on international train services

9.Public Service Obligations to promote sustainable cross-border and/or multimodal collective transport

This action addresses the interpretative guidelines for applying the Land PSO Regulation which were adopted on 22 June 2023 38

10.Empowering youth

This action addresses the Erasmus reimbursement rules to promote the use of sustainable transport modes

Further, the Action plan introduces the possibility for stakeholders to submit, from 2022, proposals for cross-border rail pilot services to the Commission. Ten Pilot services have been selected which are meant to address obstacles identified in the Action plan. The Commission will support these pilots by facilitating contact with relevant stakeholders, by aiding and investigating rail capacity and traffic management aspects through CEF technical assistance.

3.2.2.Evolution of rail passenger volumes

Figure 24 shows how propensity to travel by rail, measured as annual passenger kilometres per inhabitant, varies significantly between states.

Figure 24: Propensity to travel by rail (pax-km per inhabitant, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022; Statistical Pocketbook, 2024

Each citizen of the European Union travelled 888 passenger kilometres on average annually in 2022, which is a dramatic decrease compared to 2018 with 911 km. The highest propensity to travel by rail can be observed in France (1 507), and the lowest in Greece (112). Compared to 2018, Ireland and the Netherlands showed the largest reduction in passenger kilometres per inhabitant with a 6% and 6% decline respectively, whereas Slovenia had the biggest increase with 5 %.

Passenger transport modal split

Looking at the EU27 performance by mode (all modes included i.e. land, air, and sea transport modes), in 2022, railways had a modal share of only 8.1% against 82.4% for passenger cars 39 .

Figure 25 shows the passenger land transport modal split between 2018 and 2022 in the EU27, with land transport including passenger cars, buses and coaches, railways and tram and metro.

Figure 25: Passenger land transport modal split (% in 2018-2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TRAN_HV_PSMOD/default/table?lang=en)

Passenger car transport dominates total passenger land transport within the EU27, with a share consistently higher than 80% between 2018 and 2022. Between 2018 and 2022, the rail modal share rose from 7.8% to 8.1%, while tram and metro’s modal share decreased from 1.7% to 1.4%. At the same time, the modal share of bus and coach transport fell from 9.1% to 8.2%.

In 2022, Austria, the Netherlands, France, and Sweden were the countries with the highest rail share (more than 10%), as shown in Figure 26 . Between 2018 and 2022, in the majority of countries the modal share of rail transport increased slightly, on average by 0.27 percentage points. This is even more remarkable, considering the share decreased 2.4 percentage points in the EU27 in 2020 due to the pandemic. Looking at Figure 25 shows how the travel measures linked to the pandemic pushed passengers towards the use of individual means of transport (cars) and how it evolved back to the situation before the pandemic. 

Figure 26: Passenger land transport modal split by country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points for rail (2018 and 2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024; excluding CY and MT (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TRAN_HV_PSMOD/default/table?lang=en)

Evolution of rail passenger volumes

Figure 27 shows the evolution of rail passenger traffic as a sum of domestic and international services for the EU27 between 2018 and 2022. The dotted line indicates the share of international in total passenger traffic services.

Figure 27: Evolution of rail passenger traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international in total traffic) (billion pax-km, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Total EU27 rail passenger traffic could not recover from COVID-19 pandemic completely, 395.5 billion passenger kilometres in 2022 being still slightly lower than 411.8 billion passenger kilometres in 2019. Domestic services decreased from 385.1 to 215.3 billion passenger kilometres due to the pandemic from 2019 to 2020 and recovered to 367.7 billion passenger kilometres in 2022. After falling to 4% due to pandemic in 2020, the proportion of international passenger services recovered to 7% in 2022, slightly surpassing the pre-pandemic level.

Figure 28 shows the volumes of domestic and international passenger rail travel, measured in passenger kilometres, and the proportion of international traffic by country in 2022.

Figure 28: Passenger traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international on total) by country (pax-km in 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The largest rail passenger markets are in France, Germany, and Italy. In 2022, domestic passenger services accounted for more than 93% of all passenger kilometres in the EU27. Unsurprisingly, considering its size and location, Luxembourg is the country with the most internationally oriented rail passenger market (30% of the total passenger traffic), whereas Ireland doesn’t have any international passenger travel at all.

Figure 29 shows the compound annual growth rates for domestic, international, and total passenger traffic volumes from 2018 to 2022 for each country.

Figure 29: Compound annual growth rates of domestic, international, and total passenger traffic volumes per country (%, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Total passenger traffic decreased by 0.6% annually in the EU27 between 2018 and 2022. Passenger volumes increased in Slovenia, Poland, France, Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Finland and Hungary.

For the period 2018 to 2022 domestic passenger kilometres decreased by 0.7% annually in the EU27.

International passenger kilometres decreased by 0.7% annually as well in the EU27, altough a number of countries reported an increase in international passenger volumes. For the period 2019 to 2020 the decrease in international passenger kilometres was even more pronounced than for domestic, with an average decline of 70.5%, due to international travel restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 30 provides an overview of passenger trains’ load factor, measured as the ratio between passenger kilometres and passenger train kilometres per country in 2022. Since no train occupancy rate (expressed for example as the percentage of available seats occupied) is available, this indicator allows an alternative assessment of how the supply of rail passenger services matches the demand.

Figure 30: Number of pax-km per passenger train-km per country (passenger trains’ load factor, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

On average in 2022, EU27 passenger trains were loaded with 131 passengers, compared to 139 in 2018. In 2022, France had by far the highest load factor followed by Spain, Portugal, and Italy.

3.2.3.Evolution of rail passenger revenues

The RMMS collects data on total revenues from passenger services and its components (fare revenues from commercial services, fare revenues from PSO services and PSO compensation). Despite the clear improvement in data quality since the first year of implementation of the RMMS Regulation in 2015, some gaps and inconsistencies in the input data remain.

Figure 31 shows the reported revenues from passenger transport services per country in 2022.

Figure 31: Railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services per country (billion EUR, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Germany and France have had by far the highest amounts of revenues from passenger transport services in 2022 (EUR 17.45 and 17.25 billion respectively). The lowest amount was reported for Latvia (EUR 0.04 billion).

Figure 32 shows the railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services in 2022 per country, measured in EUR per passenger kilometre.

Figure 32: Railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services per pax-km per country (EUR per passenger-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, the EU27 railway undertakings’ revenue per passenger kilometre was on average EUR 0.16. Luxembourg had by far the highest unit revenue (EUR 0.66), and Poland the lowest (EUR 0.07). Unit revenues based on passenger kilometres decreased between 2018 and 2022 by EUR 0.02 in the EU27. According to RMMS reporting, Luxemburg had the highest increase (+EUR 0.20) and Czechia the biggest decrease (-EUR 0.10).

Figure 33 shows the railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services in 2022 per country, measured in EUR per passenger kilometre.

Figure 33: Railway undertakings’ revenues from passenger transport services per train-km per country (EUR per passenger train-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, the EU27 railway undertakings’ revenue per train kilometres was on average EUR 20.65. France had the highest unit revenues (EUR 45.68), and Bulgaria the lowest (EUR 6.51).

Figure 34  shows the sources of railway undertakings’ revenues from the provision of passenger services as reported in the RMMS for the year 2022.

The figure is structured as follows:

-Above the horizontal axis is the revenue contributed by passengers through fares paid on either PSO or (if reported) commercial services.

-Below the horizontal axis is the proportion of revenue contributed by competent authorities in the form of PSO support.

Figure 34: Sources of passenger railway undertakings’ revenue per country (% in 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022.

In many EU Member States, a significant portion of railway undertakings' revenue comes from PSO support provided by competent authorities. In 2022, PSO compensation accounted for 46.4% of the total revenues for passenger railway undertakings across the EU27, up from 40.8% in 2019, prior to the pandemic. In contrast, revenues from PSO fares and commercial fares contributed 27.6% and 26.0%, respectively, both lower than pre-pandemic levels. The share of PSO compensation varies significantly across Member States, ranging from 0% in the Netherlands to 99% in Luxembourg.

3.3.The rail freight market

3.3.1.Rail freight policy developments

Increasing the modal share of rail freight remains a Commission policy objective, highlighted in the Communication on the European Green Deal 40 and in the Commission’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy 41 .

Rail freight transport continues to face performance issues with punctuality and reliability in comparison to road transport. The sector has continued to struggle with challenges over infrastructure bottlenecks, interoperability problems and digitalisation. In terms of planning and operations, challenges remain in the provision of capacity (train paths) of sufficient quality and quantity, with inefficient operational processes at borders between networks and ineffective management of incidents and crisis situations.

The overall situation of rail freight remains unsatisfactory: its modal share is around 19%. Figure 35 shows that road transport is still predominant with more than 70% of the modal split.

In its communication on a European Green Deal, the Commission stated that ‘…a substantial part of the 75% of inland freight carried today by road should shift onto rail and inland waterways.’ The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy details the objectives defined in the Green Deal, setting the target of doubling rail freight transport until 2050 compared to its level in 2015. In addition, the strategy sets out a programme of initiatives to accelerate the migration towards a smart and sustainable European transport system. An Action Plan proposes 82 concrete initiatives to be launched in the period from 2021 to 2024 42 .

A number of these initiatives are relevant for rail freight transport. Key examples of initiatives very close to the sector include the revision of the guidelines for the trans-European transport networks (TEN-T), measures to better manage and coordinate cross-border rail traffic, a revision of the technical specifications for rail interoperability, the revision of the rules on certification of train drivers, the further development of the R&I partnership for the rail sector, Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, as well as a revision of the guidelines for State aid in support of railways. In addition, the action plan comprises measures targeting transport in a transversal way, including initiatives to introduce harmonised methodologies for carbon and emission accounting for freight transport and to review the regulatory framework for multimodal freight transport.

Rail freight transport has also been affected by recent geopolitical developments and has had an important role in addressing them.

During the COVID-19 pandemic rail freight transport has been a stable backbone for the EU’s freight transport system.

More recently, rail freight transport plays a crucial role in the European Union’s response in the transport sector to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The war has had a severe impact on the economy of Ukraine and on its ability to trade with its partners. The blockage of Ukraine’s ports has impeded the export of agricultural goods, of which 90% passed through Ukraine’s ports before the war and which are of crucial importance to Ukraine and its trading partners in Europe, Africa and China.

The war has thus created the need to establish alternative logistics routes. Rail freight transport offers an important potential to increase transport. However, its potential is limited by several challenges including the limited availability of rolling stock, shortages in capacity to tranship between the Ukrainian and the European network due to the difference in track gauges (1520 mm vs. 1435 mm) and several administrative barriers related to border-related controls and certifications.

To address the challenges, the European Commission launched an action plan for EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes in May 2022. 43 The initiative covers both the short term need to keep Ukraine integrated in global supply chains in the and the medium to long-term challenge to strengthen connectivity and interoperability of transport systems of the European Union and Ukraine.

In the short term, the Commission closely cooperates with Member States, Ukrainian authorities and industry stakeholders to set up a matchmaking platform to facilitate exchanges between logistic chain actors with a view to optimise cargo flows. The platform addresses issues such as the provision of rolling stock by private players, the identification of additional facilities to ensure a smooth flow of rail freight transport between the networks with European and Ukrainian track gauges, securing capacity on the European rail network and in European ports and the organisation transport services. In addition, short-term measures relevant for all modes address barriers related to border controls, certification of transport staff and assets and others.

In the medium to long term, the key challenges are to rebuild transport infrastructure in Ukraine and to improve the interoperability and connectivity between the Union and Ukraine. In implementing the measures envisaged in the Communication on the Solidarity Lanes’ the Commission put forward an amendment to the Commission’s proposal to revise the TEN- T guidelines on 27 July 2022. 44 The proposal includes an extension of four European Transport Corridors to Ukraine and Moldova, modifications to the indicative maps of the TEN-T network in Ukraine, the removal of the indicative maps of the TEN-T network for Russia and Belarus, the downgrade of cross-border connections to Russia and Belarus on EU territory and the definition of the 1435 mm track gauge as European standard gauge, with a view to remove the barriers created by the different track gauge in Ukraine.

An important change in the policy framework for rail freight transport will result from the revision of the Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) 45 . The Commission has published its legislative proposal in December 2021 46 , which was adopted on 13 June 2024 47 . The Commission’s proposal contains several measures in support of rail freight transport as described above in section 2.2.2. In terms of infrastructure requirements relevant for rail freight transport, the proposal includes a new parameter enabling the ubiquitous circulation of intermodal trains on the network (P400 loading gauge) and strengthens existing requirements, notably with respect to 740 m freight train length and ERTMS deployment. In terms of multimodality, there is a stronger focus and more stringent requirements on multimodal freight terminal, including the access lines linking them to the main rail network. Infrastructure requirements are gradually extended from the core to the comprehensive network and a new intermediate deadline of 2040 for compliance of the network is introduced in conjunction with the introduction of an ‘extended core network’.

Commission initiatives by themselves will not be sufficient to trigger growth of rail freight transport and multimodal transport involving rail. The ultimate success criterion for making rail freight transport an attractive choice is a competitive offer to those who choose between different transport options, i.e. the shippers and organisers of supply chains in logistics, industry and commerce. Improving the competitiveness of rail freight services requires that policy initiatives proposed by the Commission are followed-up, supported and complemented by action on the part of Member States and operational players, including infrastructure managers, railway undertakings and other transport operators and service providers.

3.3.2.Evolution of rail freight volumes

Freight transport modal split

Looking at the EU27 performance of all modes (i.e. road, rail, inland waterways, pipelines, sea, and air transport) in 2022, rail had a modal share of 11.9% 48 .

Focusing instead only on land transport (road, rail and inland waterways but excluding pipelines 49 ), f igure 35 shows the freight modal split between 2018 and 2022. Road transport dominates total freight land transport within the EU27, with a share consistently higher than 75% between 2018 and 2022. In 2022, the share of road transport reached 77.7%, a new maximum. Throughout the same period, the rail modal share decreased from 18.7% to 17.2%, although developments in the individual segments of rail freight (bulk materials, intermodal transport and single wagonload) present significant differences, with intermodal transport performing better (see also paragraph 3.3.4 below).

Inland waterways are a major competitor ofr rail for the transport of bulk materials in Member States with access to major rivers including the Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria and Belgium. Inland waterways decreased from 5.8% to 5.1%, which suggests that the entire segment of the transport of bulk commodities is suffering from changes in the economy and reduced demand for this type of transport.

Figure 35: Freight land transport modal split (%, 2018-2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tran_hv_frmod/default/table?lang=en&category=tran.tran_hv_ms)

Figure 36 shows the modal shares for rail, road, and inland waterways in each Member State.

Figure 36: Freight land transport modal split by country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points for rail (2018-2022)

Source: Eurostat, 2024 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tran_hv_frmod/default/table?lang=en&category=tran.tran_hv_ms)

The decline in the modal share of rail between 2018 and 2022, is also observed at the level of most individual EU Member States. Croatia and Belgium saw the largest increases in rail’s modal share, while Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania experienced significant decreases due to the plunge in exchanges with Russia. Despite this, Latvia and Lithuania maintained the highest modal share for rail in 2022. Rail’s share was also notably high in Slovakia and Slovenia. Ireland, Greece, and Spain recorded the lowest modal shares for rail.

Evolution of rail freight volumes

Figure 37 shows the evolution of rail freight traffic in Europe from 2018 to 2022 measured in tonne kilometres, separately for domestic and international services (bars), as well as the proportion of international on total rail freight traffic (line).

Total rail freight traffic in the EU27 decreased from 421 billion tonne-kilometres in 2018 to 397 billion tonne-kilometres in 2020, before recovering to 416 billion tonne-kilometres in 2022, nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels.

Domestic rail freight services declined from 209 billion tonne-kilometres in 2018 to 192 billion tonne-kilometres in 2019 and then remained stable at this level through 2022. Germany recorded the largest nominal decline in domestic freight traffic, with a decrease from 77 billion tonne-kilometres in 2018 to 65 billion tonne-kilometres in 2019.

International rail freight services consistently accounted for over 50% of total rail traffic across the EU27 throughout this period, peaking at 55% in 2019 and remaining at 54% thereafter. This stability contrasts sharply with the pandemic's more significant impact on international rail passenger connections.

Figure 37: Evolution of rail freight traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international in total traffic) (billion tonne-km, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Figure 38 shows the volumes of domestic and international rail freight traffic by country in 2022, as well as the evolution of tonne kilometres compared to 2018.

Figure 38: Rail freight traffic volumes (domestic, international and proportion of international on total) by country (tonne-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Rail freight traffic volumes in 2022 were highest in Germany, Poland, and France. Greece and Slovenia reported the highest proportion of international rail freight traffic (99%), whereas Ireland reported the lowest proportion with 0%.

Traffic expressed in tonne kilometres provides a first measure of the demand for rail freight services. Figure 39 gives an overview of the load factor of freight trains, measured as the ratio between tonne kilometres and freight train kilometres per country in 2022. 

Figure 39: Number of tonne-km per freight train-km per country (freight trains load factor, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

On average, EU27 freight trains were loaded with 520 tonnes in 2022. The Baltic countries have a significantly above-average load factor (the highest being in Estonia, with 2005 tonnes); the lowest load factor is in Ireland (242 tonnes).

Between 2018 and 2022, total freight volume measured in tonne-kilometres declined from approximately 435 billion to 416 billion. Despite this decrease in freight volume, the number of train movements, measured in train-kilometres, increased from around 746 billion to 779 billion over the same period. As a result, the freight train load factor, expressed as tonne-kilometres per train-kilometre, dropped by approximately 8.5%. This indicates that trains, on average, were carrying lighter loads in 2022 compared to 2018, suggesting a shift in the type of goods transported, with a possible increase in lighter freight such as container cargo over bulk commodities like coal or iron ore.

3.3.3.Evolution of rail freight revenues

The RMMS collects data on railway undertakings’ total revenues from the provision of freight services. Despite the clear improvement in data quality since the first year of implementation of the RMMS Regulation in 2015, some gaps and inconsistencies in the input data remain.

Figure 40 shows the reported revenues from rail freight per country in 2022.

Figure 40: Railway undertakings’ revenues from freight transport services per country (billion EUR, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Germany reported by far the highest rail freight revenues in 2022 (EUR 6.29 billion), while Ireland reported the lowest (almost zero). Based on RMMS data, Germany experienced the highest increase (+EUR 0.79 billion), while France recorded the highest decrease (-EUR 0.21 billion) compared to 2018.

Figure 41 shows the railway undertakings’ revenues from freight transport services in 2022 per country, measured in EUR per thousand tonne kilometres.

Figure 41: Railway undertakings’ revenues from freight transport services in tonne-km per country (EUR per thousand tonne-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

On average, in 2022 the EU27 railway undertakings’ revenues from freight transport services were EUR 41 per thousand tonne kilometres. Romania reported the highest freight revenues per thousand tonne kilometres (EUR 74), while Estonia had the lowest (EUR 12).

Figure 42 shows the railway undertakings’ revenues from freight transport services in 2022 per country, measured in EUR per freight train kilometres.

Figure 42: Railway undertakings' revenues from freight transport services in freight train-km per country (EUR per freight train-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

On average, in 2022 the freight revenues of railway undertakings in the EU27 were EUR 21.87 per train kilometre. Lithuania reported the highest revenues per train kilometre (EUR 49.61), while Italy reported the lowest (EUR 8.48).

3.3.4.Multimodal and intermodal transport

While no comprehensive and comparable data are currently gathered systematically on intermodal / multimodal transport in general, nor on intermodal / multimodal transport involving a rail leg, intermodal transport 50  appears to continue to be the fastest-growing segment in rail transport. Intermodal transport is expected by stakeholders to grow in the period 2019-2029 by approximately 49% (ton-km), while in the same period total rail freight is expected to grow by only 16%. 51  Under present circumstances, the constraints on terminal and network capacity are likely to hinder considerable growth in the short term. The recent study on intermodal transhipment technologies 52 estimates, based on current plans for both terminal upgrades and new terminal constructions, that terminal capacity in the EU will increase by only 18% until 2030.

Even though spare terminal capacity exists on paper, several factors inhibit its full utilisation and restrict the growth of intermodal transport. Capacity may be available in regions with low freight demand, while areas with higher demand continue to experience congestion, meaning that unused capacity does not necessarily translate into increased throughput where it is most needed. Moreover, the overall efficiency of rail freight depends not only on the physical space in terminals but also on factors such as available train paths, track access, and scheduling. Bottlenecks – particularly on lines shared with passenger services – can limit the effective use of terminal capacity. Freight shippers assess rail transport on the basis of reliability, transit times, and cost, and if these criteria are not met, they may opt for alternative modes of transport even when terminal capacity remains underutilised. Additionally, an adequate supply of rolling stock, locomotives, and skilled personnel is essential to handle increased volumes. Deficiencies in these areas can hinder the effective use of terminal capacity.

While current capacity is not used in full for the outlined reasons and the new TEN-T guidelines 53 include an effort to ensure additional terminal capacity, such investments take time and thus a major growth of intermodal/multimodal transport is only possible once capacity constraints have been removed.

The growth of intermodal/multimodal transport is an important objective and the SSMS 54 calls for action to achieve this. Today’s direct support to intermodal transport comes from the Combined Transport Directive 55 . According to the 2017 Commission study, 58% of intermodal operations are covered by the Directive, while 37% are excluded from preferential treatment due to being national operations and further 5% are excluded for not fulfilling the different distance criteria in the Directive. 56 An average rail intermodal operation has a rail leg of 615 kilometres and involves 2.2 transhipments. Road legs of such operations are on average 51 kilometres each (without the pre-and on-carriage of empty containers to/from depot, or 102 kilometres with the empty container depot-leg).

In November 2017, the Commission proposed to amend the Combined Transport Directive in order to increase the uptake of more sustainable modes of transport by providing new and more effective support measures. However, considering amendments made by the co-legislators, as well as the new far-reaching objectives of the European Green Deal, the Commission decided to withdraw this proposal. A new, more ambitious proposal was then published on 11 July 2023 as part of the Greening Freight Package, aiming to increase ambition, simplify eligibility, provide more effective support tools, and improve analysis of the intermodal/multimodal transport market. The accompanying impact assessment has also been finalized and published.

To support the development of intermodal transport from a technical point of view, the Commission continues to refine the Technical Specification for Interoperability relating to Telematics Applications for Freight Services (TAF-TSI) to digitalise information related to rail freight traffic flows. Objectives include:

-Establishing a Single train ID and accompanying tools to facilitate tracking of trains and goods by rail and other operators;

-Allowing the two-way exchange of a dynamic, reliable estimated time of arrival (ETA) between freight terminals, ports, intermodal operators, and shippers;

-Linking the train positioning (or train running information) and its ETA to a harmonised train composition (Issues Logbook action No 3);

-Linking the above-mentioned data to wagons, intermodal loading units (ILUs) and eConsignment notes in a commercially sound way, preventing accidental disclosure/diffusion and making the information available along the logistics chain.

A 2023 update 57 has further refined the TAF-TSI requirements, ensuring that the specification remains aligned with evolving digitalization objectives and continues to facilitate more efficient, transparent, and sustainable rail freight operations.

4.The evolution of services supplied to railway undertakings

Directive 2012/34/EU lays down rules for service facilities and services supplied therein. The aim of the Directive was to increase the transparency of access conditions and charges applied and ensuring non-discriminatory access.

Provisions apply to a broad range of facilities and services, listed in points 2, 3 and 4 of Annex II to Directive 2012/34/EU. These include passenger stations, freight terminals, marshalling yards and train formation facilities, storage sidings, maintenance facilities, cleaning and washing facilities, maritime and inland port facilities, and refuelling facilities. Additional and ancillary services are also covered, such as traction current supply, pre-heating of trains, arrangements for transport of dangerous goods, access to telecommunication networks and ticketing services.

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2177 lays down the details of the procedure and criteria to be followed for access to service facilities and to the services supplied in these facilities. It also makes provision for sharing and accessing information and for developing cooperation between service facility operators and infrastructure managers.

The RMMS monitors service facilities. However, whereas information is largely complete and reliable for stations, information on other service facilities remains fragmented and not always comparable across countries. Data presented in this section must therefore be interpreted with care.

4.1.Charging principles for service facilities, additional and ancillary services

Charging principles for service facilities and rail-related services differ from the ones applied to rail infrastructure. While direct costs and possibly mark-ups (and eventually other charging components) are levied for the access to rail infrastructure, charges imposed for track access within service facilities and the supply of basic services in such facilities 58 must not exceed the cost of providing them plus a reasonable profit. The charge for additional and ancillary services must similarly not exceed the cost of providing the single service including a reasonable profit, except when these services are offered by more than one supplier.

Applicants must have easy access to information on any service facility and its rail-related services. For that reason, it is mandatory that the network statement, available free of charge, contains a section on information on access to and charging for gaining access to service facilities, as well as for the provision of rail-related services. Alternatively, the information can be published on the website of the service facility or on a common web portal (see https://railfacilitiesportal.eu).

4.2.Passenger stations

There were more than 27 000 stations in the EU27 in 2022, of which 281 were large stations serving more than 25 000 travellers per day.

In 2022, the average distance between stations in the EU27 was 7.45 kilometres. In Finland there is by far the greatest average distance between stations (29.3 kilometres) whereas the Czech network has the shortest average distance between stations with 3.6 kilometres ( Figure   43 ).

Figure 43: Average distance between stations by country (km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022; Statistical Pocketbook, 2024

Figure 44 shows the numbers of stations with different passenger volumes per day in 2022 per country.

Figure 44: Number of stations by passengers per day by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The highest number of stations by far was reported by Germany (7 109, 26.6% of the EU27 total), while the lowest was reported by Luxembourg (68).

Figure 45 shows the proportion of stations with different passenger volumes per day in 2022 per country.

Figure 45: Proportion of stations by passengers per day by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

With the notable exception of the Netherlands, most of the stations on all networks serve fewer than a thousand travellers per day. These smaller stations make up the majority (80%) of all stations in the EU27. Large stations serving more than 25 000 travellers per day are less relevant in numerical terms (representing only 1% of the total), despite their major importance for network interconnection.

4.3.Other service facilities

The RMMS collects data from Member States on the number of other service facilities as referred to in Annex II to Directive 2012/34/EU.

However, discrepancies in the definition of each type of service facility and gaps in inputs at national level limit the comparability of figures across Member States and across years, meaning that caution is necessary when drawing conclusions from the inputs received.

Further to this, the RMMS does not collect data on the actual or foreseeable use of such facilities: the mere reporting of a facility in the RMMS therefore does not necessarily imply that this facility is regularly used (or could be used at short notice or in the near future).

Freight terminals

Based on RMMS data, in 2022 the EU had 1 457 freight terminals. Figure 46 shows the reported number of freight terminals in 2022 by state.

Figure 46: Number of freight terminals by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The RMMS Regulation defines freight terminals as a facility equipped for the transhipment and storage of intermodal transport units, where at least one of the modes of transport is rail. France reported the highest number of freight terminals in the EU27, with 716 terminals.

Marshalling yards and train formation facilities

Based on RMMS data, the EU27 had 291 marshalling yards and train formation facilities in 2022.

Figure 47 shows the reported number of marshalling yards and train formation facilities in 2022 by country.

Figure 47: Number of marshalling yards by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The RMMS Regulation defines a marshalling yard as a site or a part of a site equipped with several tracks or other equipment used for railway vehicle marshalling operations, including switching, and which use gravity to form or rearrange trains.

Maintenance facilities

Based on RMMS data, there were around 1 177 maintenance facilities in the EU27 in 2022.

Figure 48 shows the reported number of maintenance facilities in 2022 per country.

Figure 48: Number of maintenance facilities by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Maintenance facilities are facilities where rolling stock is maintained, including both heavy and light maintenance, to keep it in operation.

Maritime and port facilities

Based on RMMS data, in 2022 the EU27 had 487 maritime and port facilities.

Figure 49 shows the reported number of maritime and port facilities in 2022 per country.

Figure 49: Number of maritime and port facilities linked to rail activity by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Refuelling facilities

Based on RMMS data, in 2022 the EU27 had 742 refuelling facilities.

Figure 50 shows the reported number of refuelling facilities in 2022 per country.

Figure 50: Number of refuelling facilities by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

4.4.Complaints related to access to service facilities

Figure 51 shows the number of complaints being processed by regulators, as well as the number of decisions taken by regulators in 2022 per country. It should be noted that reported decisions are not necessarily in response to complaints raised in the same year, since there could be a considerable time lag between the filing of a complaint and its resolution.

Figure 51: Number of complaints being processed, and decisions made by country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Germany’s regulator processed the highest number of complaints on access to service facilities in 2022 (8) and took 4 decisions on such complaints.

5.The evolution of framework conditions in the rail sector

Covered in part 2

6.The quality of rail services

Covered in part 2

7.Conclusions

Covered in part 2

(1)

  https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-modes/rail/market/rail-market-monitoring-rmms_en  

(2)

In addition to the rail market report, the EU Agency for Railways publishes a bi-annual report on safety and interoperability performance: Link

(3)

Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 32.

(4)

Comprehensive monitoring of rail prices for customers is not possible due to the broad variety of services offered.

(5)

The Report is based on preliminary Statistical pocketbook data available on 2 October 2024. The 2024 Statistical pocketbook is available on the DG MOVE website .

(6)

  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/transport/database

(7)

UIC, UIP.

(8)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1100 of 7 July 2015 on the reporting obligations of the Member States in the framework of rail market monitoring, OJ L 181, 9.7.2015, p. 1.

(9)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social committee, and the Committee of the Regions – The European Green Deal (COM/2019/640 final).

(10)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social committee, and the Committee of the Regions - Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy – putting European transport on track for the future (COM/2020/789 final).

(11)

GHG emissions from transport by mode, including international bunkers and indirect CO2 but excluding land use, land use change and forestry. Rail excluding indirect emissions from electricity consumption. The European Environment Agency (EEA, https://www.eea.europa.eu/ ) is the main provider for EU-wide GHG emissions data. The GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC).

(12)

The Statistical pocketbook 2022 provides further details by country, sector, and mode.

(13)

While noise from roads or railways causes similar health effects, aviation noise is more harmful at the same noise levels. Any comparison between modes should consider not only the number of people exposed, but also the magnitude of health effects at similar noise levels.

(14)

Environmental noise in Europe – 2020, EEA Report No 22/2019 ( https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/environmental-noise-in-europe ).

(15)

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1304/2014 of 26 November 2014 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the subsystem ‘rolling stock — noise’, as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/774 of 16 May 2019.

(16)

Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of 11 December 2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility, amending Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 680/2007 and (EC) No 67/2010.

(17)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/429 of 13 March 2015 setting out the modalities to be followed for the application of the charging for the cost of noise effects.

(18)

 ERA, Full Impact Assessment, Revision of the Noise TSI: Application of NOI TSI requirements to existing freight wagons ( https://www.era.europa.eu/system/files/2022-10/Recommendation%20on%20the%20amendment%20of%20TSI%20NOISE%20-%20Full%20impact%20assessment_0.pdf?t=1717006173 )

(19)

Funding infrastructure sources reported in the RMMS are public domestic funds, EU funds and own funds of the main infrastructure managers and other owners of major stations and freight terminals, like access charges.

(20)

EUROSTAT - Construction producer prices or costs, new residential buildings (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sts_copi_a/default/table?lang=en&category=sts.sts_cons.sts_cons_pri)

(21)

EUROSTAT, Consumer prices – inflation (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?oldid=572316&title=Consumer_prices_-_inflation)

(22)

Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 October 2020 establishing measures for a sustainable rail market in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, OJ L 333, 12.10.2020, p. 1–5.

(23)

For an overview, see https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/coronavirus-response/transportation-during-pandemic_en .

(24)

 Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 October 2020 establishing measures for a sustainable rail market in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02020R1429-20220701 .

(25)

https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-modes/rail/rail-studies_en?utm

(26)

Cyprus and Malta are not represented in this report since they do not have railways.

(27)

2022 PRIME Benchmarking Report ( https://wikis.ec.europa.eu/pages/viewpageattachments.action?pageId=44167372&metadataLink=true&preview=/44167372/136316178/PRIME_External%20Report_2022%20data_Final.pdf )

(28)

Except for Austria, for which a maximum speed of 230 km/h is considered.

(29)

Not all countries were able to distinguish in their reporting between investment in new infrastructure and upgrades.

(30)

  https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/09747/tableViewLayout1/  

(31)

Reporting on stations and freight terminals expenditure is quite fragmented.

(32)

Source of data: CINEA

(33)

Several interventions (e.g. electrification and gauge upgrades) can be financed on the same line.

(34)

  https://investeu.europa.eu/what-investeu-programme/investeu-fund/about-investeu-fund_en . The EU has also developed blending instruments combining grants with loans or guarantees, as explained in the previous paragraph.

(35)

  https://rail-research.europa.eu/

(36)

  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R2085
The Horizon Europe cluster 5 contains also several cross-modal topics for which the rail supply industry may apply.

(37)

  https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news/efficient-and-green-mobility-2021-12-14_en  

(38)

https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/increasing-public-transport-use-eu-commission-adopts-interpretative-guidelines-public-service-2023-06-22_en?utm

(39)

See Statistical pocketbook 2022.

(40)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - The European Green Deal

COM/2019/640 final ( https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en ).

(41)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy – putting European transport on track for the future, COM/2020/789 final ( https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0789 )

(42)

https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/mobility-strategy_en

(43)

COM(2022) 217 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022DC0217 .

(44)

 COM(2022) 384 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52022PC0384

(45)

 Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02013R1315-20190306  

(46)

 COM(2021) 812 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0812  

(47)

Regulation (EU) No 1679/2024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1153 and (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1679/oj/eng

(48)

See Statistical pocketbook 2024.

(49)

Figures related to land freight transport including pipelines are available in the Statistical pocketbook 2022.

(50)

The following definitions are used:

-‘Multimodal transport’ is any transport using several modes of transport for one journey without any specific characteristics or limitations.

-‘Intermodal transport’ is a type of multimodal transport where the goods are carried in an intermodal load unit such as a container or trailer and it is the load unit that is transhipped from one mode to another as opposed to the goods being reloaded.

-‘Combined transport’ is a type of intermodal transport where the different legs distances and geographical scope are limited as defined in Directive 92/106/EEC.

(51)

2022 UIC-UIRR Report on Combined Transport in Europe: Link

(52)

 Comparative evaluation of transhipment technologies for intermodal transport and their cost, 2022, https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/d37790ea-b6ef-11ec-b6f4-01aa75ed71a1  

(53)

Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 and Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulation (EU) 1315/2013

(54)

Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/mobility-strategy_en  

(55)

Council Directive 92/106/EEC of 7 December 1992 on the establishment of common rules for certain types of combined transport of goods between Member States, OJ L 368, 17.12.1992, p. 38.

(56)

The Combined Transport Directive specifically covers rail intermodal operations involving at least two Member States where the rail leg is at least 100 km, and the road leg is up to the nearest suitable rail station (see Article 1 for a more precise definition of the scope).

(57)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/411

(58)

Different service facility types and rail-related services are enumerated in points 2 to 4 of Annex II to Directive 2012/34/EU.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 30.7.2025

SWD(2025) 239 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

[…]

Accompanying the document

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

Ninth monitoring report on the development of the rail market under Article 15(4) of

Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

{COM(2025) 439 final}

Contents

1.Rail and sustainability

2.The state of the union railway network

3.The evolution of rail services

4.The evolution of services supplied to railway undertakings

5.The evolution of framework conditions in the rail sector

5.1.Harmonisation

5.1.1.EU legislation

5.2.Licensing of railway undertakings

5.2.1.Active licences

5.2.2.Average fee to obtain a licence

5.2.3.Average time to obtain a licence

5.3.Charging principles for the infrastructure

5.4.Access charges for different categories of passenger trains

5.5.Access charges for different categories of freight trains

5.6.Infrastructure managers’ revenue calculated for passenger and freight trains

5.7.Capacity allocation and congestion

5.7.1.Allocating capacity

5.7.2.Managing capacity shortages

5.8.Rail transport services covered by public service contracts

5.8.1.PSO scope

5.8.2.PSO award

5.8.3.PSO compensation

5.9.Degree of market opening and utilisation of access rights

5.9.1.Opening of the freight market

5.9.2.Opening of the passenger market

5.9.3.Challenges of market opening

5.10.State aid

5.11.Regulatory bodies

5.12.Development of employment and social conditions in the rail market

5.12.1.Employment in rail

5.12.2.Socio-demographic structure of the rail labour market

5.13.Digitalisation

5.14.External dimension of rail transport policy

6.The quality of rail services

6.1.Safety

6.2.Punctuality and reliability of passenger services

6.2.1.Punctuality by category of passenger services

6.2.2.Reliability by category of passenger services

6.3.Punctuality and reliability of freight services

6.3.1.Punctuality by category of freight

6.3.2.Reliability by category of freight

6.3.3.Average timetable speed of freight services

6.4.Passenger rights

7.Conclusions

Table of figures

Figure 52: Number of active railway licences per country (2022)    

Figure 53: Average fee to obtain a licence by country (EUR, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 54: Average time to obtain a licence by country (calendar days, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 55: Access charges (excluding markups) for different categories of passenger trains, by country (EUR per train-km, 2022)    

Figure 56: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for suburban and regional passenger trains by country, (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 57: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for conventional long-distance passenger trains by country, (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 58: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for high-speed passenger trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 59: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for different categories of freight trains, by country (EUR per train-km, 2022)    

Figure 60: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 1 000 tonne freight trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 61: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 1 600 tonne freight trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 62: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 6 000 tonne freight trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 63: Infrastructure managers' revenue earned from charges (TACs, station charges and other charges) paid by passenger trains, per country (EUR billion, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 64: Proportion of infrastructure managers' revenue earned from TACs, station charges and other charges on total charges paid by passenger trains, per country (% in 2022)    

Figure 65: Infrastructure managers' revenue earned from charges (TACs, freight terminals charges and other charges) paid by freight trains, per country (EUR million, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 66: Proportion of infrastructure managers' revenue earned from TACs, freight terminals charges and other charges on total charges paid by freight trains, per country (%, 2022)    

Figure 67: Share of passenger and freight charges on infrastructure managers' total revenues earned from trains, per country (%, 2022)    

Figure 68: Network utilisation per country (thousand train-km per line-km, 2022)    

Figure 69: Successful and rejected path allocations for scheduled path allocations per country (million path allocations, 2022)    

Figure 70: Successful and rejected path allocations for ad hoc path allocations per country (million path allocations, 2022)    

Figure 71: Total length of track declared congested (total and freight corridors) (km, 2018-2022)    

Figure 72: Principal types of services prioritised by infrastructure managers (number of MS assigning each priority, 2022)    

Figure 73: Share of passenger traffic offered respectively under a PSO and commercial rail services per country (% of pax-km, 2022)    

Figure 74: Share of passenger traffic offered respectively under domestic and international PSO services per country declaring to have international PSOs (% of pax-km, 2022)    

Figure 75: PSOs competitively tendered and directly awarded per country (billion pax-km, 2022)    

Figure 76: Largest PSOs competitively tendered and directly awarded per country (million train-km, 2022)    

Figure 77: Apparent average PSO compensation per country (EUR per train-km, 2022)    

Figure 78: Share of PSO and commercial fares on total revenues of railway undertakings (% in 2022)    

Figure 79: Competitors’ market share in the rail freight market per country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points (2018-2022)    

Figure 80: Competitors' market share in the commercial passenger market per country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points (2018-2022)    

Figure 81: Competitors' market share in the PSO passenger market per country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points (2018-2022)    

Figure 82: Stock of locomotives and railcars (number per country, 2018, 2020 and 2022)    

Figure 83: Stock of coaches, railcars, trailers for passenger transport (number per country, 2018, 2020 and 2022)    

Figure 84: Stock of goods transport wagons (number per country, 2018, 2020 and 2022)    

Figure 85: Regulatory bodies staff dealing with rail market access (number, as available to the Commission in June 2022)    

Figure 86: Regulatory bodies staff dealing with rail market access (employees, as available to the Commission in June 2024, per billion train-km and per billion transport units, 2022)    

Figure 87: Proportion of infrastructure managers and railway undertakings on total rail employees per country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 88: Total number of employees in the rail market (infrastructure managers plus railway undertakings) per country (number, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 89: Total number of employees of the infrastructure managers per country (number, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 90: Total number of employees of the railway undertakings per country (number, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 91: Number of employees of the main railway undertaking per country (number, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 92: Number of employees of other railway undertakings per country (number, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 93: Number of train drivers of main and other railway undertakings per country (number, 2018 and 2022)    

Figure 94: Number of valid EU train driver licences, (2022)    

Figure 95: Total employees (main infrastructure managers plus railway undertakings) by gender structure, (% in 2022)    

Figure 96: Main infrastructure managers' employees by gender structure (% in 2022)    

Figure 97: Main railway undertakings' employees by gender structure (% in 2022)    

Figure 98: Employees by age group, main railway undertakings and infrastructure managers (%, 2018-2022)    

Figure 99: Main railway undertakings’ employees by age group and country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 100: Main infrastructure managers’ employees by age group and country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 101: Employees of main infrastructure manager by contract type (permanent or temporary) per country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 102: Employees of main railway undertaking by contract type (permanent or temporary) per country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 103: Employees of main infrastructure manager by contract type (full-time or part-time) per country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 104: Employees of main railway undertaking by contract type (full-time or part-time) per country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 105: Employees of main infrastructure manager in training per country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 106: Employees of main railway undertaking in training per country, (% in 2022)    

Figure 108: ETCS status on the core network    

Figure 109: Vehicles equipped with ERTMS    

Figure 110: Vicious circle of ERTMS deployment    

Figure 111: Fatality risks of different transport modes (fatalities per billion pax-km, 2018-2022)    

Figure 112: Significant rail accidents and resulting casualties (number, 2018-2022)    

Figure 113: Significant rail accidents by type of accident (number, 2018-2022)    

Figure 114: Punctuality of regional and local passenger services per country (%, 2018 to 2022)    

Figure 115: Punctuality of long-distance and high-speed passenger services per country (%, 2018 to 2022)    

Figure 116: Reliability of regional and local passenger services per country, (%, 2018 to 2022)    

Figure 117: Reliability of long-distance and high-speed passenger services per country (%, 2018 to 2022)    

Figure 118: Punctuality of domestic and international freight services per country (%, 2022)    

Figure 119: Combined punctuality of domestic and international freight services per country (%, 2018 to 2022)    

Figure 120: Reliability of domestic and international freight services per country (% in 2022)    

Figure 121: Reliability of domestic and international freight services per country (% in 2022)    

Figure 121: Average timetabled speed of freight services per country, (Km/h, 2022)    

Table of tables

Table 4: Track declared to be congested (total including freight corridors) per country, (km, 2018-2022)    

Table 5: Nodes declared to be congested per country, (km, 2018-2022)    

Table 6: Main railway gauge and electric current used per country (2022)    

Table 7: State aid decisions 2021-2022    

Table 8: Serious accidents 2023-2024 (update 26 August 2024)    

1.Rail and sustainability

Covered in part 1

2.The state of the union railway network

Covered in part 1

3.The evolution of rail services

Covered in part 1

4.The evolution of services supplied to railway undertakings

Covered in part 1

5.The evolution of framework conditions in the rail sector

5.1.Harmonisation

5.1.1.EU legislation

Overview of EU legislative elements

Following Directive 91/440/EEC, effective from 1 January 1993, the Commission has adopted four railway packages:

-In 2001, the First Railway Package (‘rail infrastructure package’) allowed rail operators to access the trans-European network on a non-discriminatory basis for the purpose of operating international freight services.

-In 2004, the Second Railway Package liberalised the rail freight market from 1 January 2007, introduced common procedures for investigating accidents, and established safety authorities in the Member States.

-In 2007, the Third Railway Package introduced open access rights for international rail passenger services and a European train driver licence and strengthened rail passengers’ rights.

-In 2016, the Fourth Railway Package was adopted to complete the single market for rail services and to make it more competitive with other transportation modes 1 .

The technical pillar of the Fourth Railway Package, adopted by the Council in April 2016, focused on interoperability, safety, and a renewed role for the European Rail Agency. It included:

-Regulation (EU) 2016/796 on the EU Agency for Railways and repealing Regulation (EC) 881/2004

-Directive (EU) 2016/797 on the interoperability of the rail system within the EU (Recast of Directive 2008/57/EC)

-Directive (EU) 2016/798 on railway safety (Recast of Directive 2004/49/EC)

The market pillar of the Fourth Railway Package, adopted in December 2016, intended to complete the process of market opening that began with the implementation of the First Railway Package. It introduced open access for domestic rail passenger services, laid down rules for improving impartiality in the governance of railway infrastructure, and introduced the principles of mandatory tendering for public service contracts in the railway sector to enhance competition in rail passenger service markets, thereby encouraging railway operators to improve the quality of their services, and their cost effectiveness. The market pillar comprises two Regulations and a Directive.

-Regulation (EU) 2016/2338 amending Regulation (EC) 1370/2007, dealing with the award of public service contracts for domestic passenger transport services by rail

-Directive 2016/2370/EU amending Directive 2012/34/EU, dealing with the opening of the market of domestic passenger transport services by rail and the governance of the railway infrastructure

-Regulation (EU) 2016/2337 repealing Regulation (EEC) 1192/69 on the normalisation of the accounts of railway undertakings.

The two key features of the market pillar are:

-‘Competitive tendering’ as the standard choice for awarding public service contracts: This principle will fully apply from 3 December 2019. The unconditional possibility of directly awarding public service contracts is allowed until 24 December 2023. After that date, the direct award procedure will only be allowed in limited and well-defined circumstances 2 .

-‘Open access’ from the 2021 timetable: Member States may limit rights of access only if the exercise of these rights would compromise the economic equilibrium of one or more PSCs.

5.2.Licensing of railway undertakings 

5.2.1.Active licences

Licences of railway undertakings can be active or passive:

·Active licence: a licence granted to a railway undertaking that has started and not ceased operations within the periods fixed by the Member State in accordance with Article 24(4) of Directive 2012/34/EU.

·Passive licence: a licence granted to a railway undertaking that has not started or has ceased operations within the periods fixed by the Member State in accordance with Article 24(4) of Directive 2012/34/EU, and licences which have been suspended or revoked.

The number of active licences reported in the RMMS is showed in Figure 52 .

Figure 52: Number of active railway licences per country (2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In total 1 202 active licences were reported in the EU27 in 2022. Germany reported the highest number of licensed railway undertakings (490), together with Poland (126) and Czechia (109). Luxembourg reported the lowest number of active licences (2).

5.2.2.Average fee to obtain a licence

Figure 53 shows the reported average fees to obtain a licence in 2018 and 2022 in each country.

Figure 53: Average fee to obtain a licence by country (EUR, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022. FR reported that licence costs are zero. In LV the charge is a state duty, not a licence fee.

Portugal reported the highest fee level for 2022 (EUR 37 500) followed by Bulgaria and Romania, whereas Lithuania reported the lowest fee (EUR 63) and in Croatia, France and Norway licences appear to be obtained for free. Fees significantly decreased between 2018 and 2022 in Denmark and Spain, whereas only Romania reported a significant increase in the same period. In Latvia, the payment is a state duty rather than a licence fee and was reduced to zero in 2020.

5.2.3.Average time to obtain a licence

Figure 54 shows the reported average number of calendar days to obtain a licence in 2018 and 2022 in different countries.

Figure 54: Average time to obtain a licence by country (calendar days, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Most Member States reported an average time to obtain a licence of 90, 60 or 30 calendar days. Poland reported the longest average time for 2022 (159 days), followed by Spain (150) and Slovenia (120). In Germany, the reported average time to obtain a licence was only 3 calendar days. Denmark reported the highest increase with 67 days, whereas Poland shows the most remarkable change, with a reduction by 102 days from 2018 to 2022.

5.3.Charging principles for the infrastructure

Infrastructure managers recover the cost related to the provision of infrastructure for train operations with infrastructure charges. The basic principle is that the charges should cover at least the ‘direct’ costs of the train run, referring to the costs incurred by a train run over the network, i.e. the marginal costs of the use of the infrastructure.

To incentivise the optimal use of their infrastructure, infrastructure managers can additionally apply other charging components:

-to improve environmental performance, charges can reflect noise emissions or the usage of diesel/electric locomotives;

-an effective use of infrastructure capacity can be incentivised through mechanisms such as a scarcity charge, a reservation charge, or discounts to specific traffic flows;

-the costs of specific investment projects can be recovered by charges based on long-term costs;

-a performance scheme can enhance operational performance through penalties/rewards linked to the occurrence/avoidance of service disruptions, applicable to both railway undertakings and infrastructure managers; and

-mark-ups can be applied on top of the direct cost charges in market segments that are able to pay such higher charges. Nevertheless, market segments that can at least pay the direct costs and a rate of return must not be excluded from the use of the rail infrastructure.

The overall level of cost recovery through infrastructure charges is typically affected by the level of government contribution to the cost of the infrastructure.

Currently the RMMS does not allow the possibility to distinguish between the various charging elements used by each Member State. Therefore, while comparing the level of charges reported by Member States, the results need to be interpreted with caution.

5.4.Access charges for different categories of passenger trains

As explained in paragraph 5.3 , the RMMS does not allow the possibility to distinguish between the various elements of charging applied across infrastructure managers and Member States. Therefore, while comparing the level of charges as reported in the following pages, the results need to be interpreted with caution.

Figure 55 compares estimates of typical access charges (excluding mark-ups) per country in 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre, for three different types of passenger trains.

Figure 55: Access charges (excluding markups) for different categories of passenger trains, by country (EUR per train-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Overall, the Netherlands reported the highest level of track access charges in 2022, while Lithuania and Bulgaria reported the lowest. Spain and the Netherlands applied very high track access charges for dedicated high-speed lines, whereas Latvia applied comparably high track access charges for conventional long-distance lines.

Figure 56 shows access charges (excluding mark-ups) for suburban and regional passenger trains per country for 2018 and 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre.

Figure 56: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for suburban and regional passenger trains by country, (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In general, Spain reported the highest access charges for suburban and regional passenger trains. Belgium and Latvia showed the most notable decrease, while Greece registered the highest increase from 2018 to 2022.

Figure 57 shows access charges (excluding mark-ups) for conventional long-distance passenger trains per country for 2018 and 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre.

Figure 57: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for conventional long-distance passenger trains by country, (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The figure shows how charges have changed in several Member States, most notably Greece (increasing) and Belgium, Austria, and the Netherlands (decreasing).

Figure 58 shows access charges (excluding mark-ups) for high-speed passenger trains per country for 2018 and 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre 3 .

Figure 58: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for high-speed passenger trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

All countries with track access charges for high-speed rail (excluding mark-ups), reported higher values than for other passenger charges, except Belgium which has the same access charges for all passenger trains. However, in all Member States with high-speed rail, the access charges were lower in 2022 than in 2018, except in the Netherlands.

5.5.Access charges for different categories of freight trains

Figure 59 compares estimates of typical access charges (excluding mark-ups) per country in 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre, for freight trains of three different maximum gross tonnages.

Figure 59: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for different categories of freight trains, by country (EUR per train-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Overall, highest track access charges are reported in the Baltic States. Unusually high track access charges are achieved for 6 000 gross tonne freight trains in Norway 4 .

Figure 60 shows access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 1 000 gross tonne freight trains per country for 2018 and 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre.

Figure 60: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 1 000 tonne freight trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The figure shows how charges have changed in several Member States, most notably Latvia and Greece (increasing) and Slovakia, Italy, and Lithuania (decreasing).

Figure 61 shows access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 1 600 gross tonne freight trains per country for 2018 and 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre.

Figure 61: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 1 600 tonne freight trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The figure shows how access charges for 1 600 tonne freight trains have changed in several Member States, most notably Greece, Sweden, and Latvia (increasing) as well as Poland, Latvia, and Bulgaria (decreasing).

Figure 62 shows access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 6 000 gross tonne freight trains per country for 2018 and 2022, measured in EUR per train kilometre.

Figure 62: Access charges (excluding mark-ups) for 6 000 tonne freight trains by country (EUR per train-km, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The figure shows how access charges for 6 000 gross tonne freight trains have changed in several countries, most notably Sweden (increasing) and Lithuania (decreasing).

5.6.Infrastructure managers’ revenue calculated for passenger and freight trains 

Figure 63 shows the infrastructure managers’ reported revenues from passenger trains through track access charges, station charges and other charges per country for 2018 and 2022. In the RMMS, only charges collected by the infrastructure managers need to be reported. These therefore include charges for station facilities only if owned or managed by infrastructure managers.

Figure 63: Infrastructure managers' revenue earned from charges (TACs, station charges and other charges) paid by passenger trains, per country (EUR billion, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Overall, the highest revenues from passenger services’ charges in 2022 were achieved in Germany and France. The lowest revenues (almost zero) were reported in Lithuania and Slovenia.

Figure 64 shows the infrastructure managers’ share of track access, station, and other charges in total revenues from passenger trains per country in 2022.

Figure 64: Proportion of infrastructure managers' revenue earned from TACs, station charges and other charges on total charges paid by passenger trains, per country (% in 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022. SE reported consolidated figures for TACs and station charges, so it is not possible to represent their respective weight on the total charges.

In 2022, track access charges represented on average 88% of the infrastructure managers’ revenues from passenger trains in the EU27. Hungary reported the lowest share of track access charges on total infrastructure managers’ revenues from passenger services (41%). Station charges can make up to 55% of the total, as reported by Hungary. Sweden reported negative revenues from other charges due to quality fees paid by the infrastructure manager.

Figure 65 shows infrastructure managers’ reported revenues from freight trains through track access charges, freight terminals charges and other charges per country for 2018 and 2022. In the RMMS, only charges collected by the infrastructure managers need to be reported. These therefore include charges for freight terminals only if owned or managed by infrastructure managers.

Figure 65: Infrastructure managers' revenue earned from charges (TACs, freight terminals charges and other charges) paid by freight trains, per country (EUR million, 2018 and 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Germany reported the highest revenues of infrastructure managers from freight services in 2022, while Luxemburg reported the lowest revenues.

Figure 66 shows infrastructure managers’ share of track access, freight terminals and other charges in total revenues from freight trains per country in 2022.

Figure 66: Proportion of infrastructure managers' revenue earned from TACs, freight terminals charges and other charges on total charges paid by freight trains, per country (%, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, track access charges represented on average 76% of the infrastructure managers’ revenues from freight trains in the EU27. Denmark reported the lowest share of track access charges on total revenues of infrastructure managers from freight services (16%). Freight terminal charges can make up to 17% of the total as reported by Germany. Sweden reported negative revenue from other charges due to quality fees paid by the infrastructure manager.

Figure 67 shows the share of passenger and freight charges in total revenues of infrastructure managers’ revenues from trains per country in 2022.

Figure 67: Share of passenger and freight charges on infrastructure managers' total revenues earned from trains, per country (%, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, passenger services represented on average 87% of the total revenues of infrastructure managers from trains in the EU27. Luxembourg reported the highest share (100%), Lithuania the lowest (5%). Eastern European countries rely more on freight revenue from track access charges than other regions, highlighting the distinct characteristics of their railway markets.

5.7.Capacity allocation and congestion

Figure 69 presents the reported average network utilization for passenger and freight trains in 2022, measured in train kilometres per line kilometre per country, along with the changes since 2018. While these broad national averages do not reflect the least-used parts of the network, they offer insights into which railway networks are, on average, busier than others.

Figure 68: Network utilisation per country (thousand train-km per line-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022; Statistical pocketbook, 2024

In 2022, the EU27 network had an intensity of use of 18.7 thousand train kilometres per line kilometre. This is slightly higher than in the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (18.1 in 2018). The most intensively used networks in 2022 were still those of western Europe, in particular the Netherlands, with an intensity of use of 49.3 thousand train kilometres per line kilometre. Romania appears to have the lowest intensity of use with only 5.3 thousand train kilometres per line kilometre. In terms of segments, 79% of the intensity of use was due to passenger trains (14.8 thousand train kilometres per line kilometre). Freight network utilisation is higher in central European countries, underscoring the significance of their geopolitical position within the European freight rail network.

5.7.1.Allocating capacity

Successful and rejected path allocations for scheduled and ad hoc train paths

Timetables structure and organise the use of railway infrastructure in the form of ‘train paths’: train paths determine the train (by number), the time of use and the individual trajectory of the train. The basis for building timetables is path requests by railway undertakings and other applicants 5 . With this, infrastructure managers create a usage plan, i.e. the timetable, which reconciles all path requests in the best possible way, given the available infrastructure capacity. Path requests can be either submitted under the yearly working timetable (designed for planned traffic and on a more long-term basis) or as ad hoc requests for spot traffic at shorter notice. Path allocation requests may be accepted or rejected by an infrastructure manager to resolve conflicting applications for infrastructure capacity.

Member States are required to follow the path coordination processes set out in Article 46(1) of Directive 2012/34/EU. Annex VII to the same Directive 6 specifies a mandatory timeline for establishing the yearly timetable and introduces coordination and consultation processes between infrastructure managers and applicants.

Despite EU path coordination rules having been in place for a long time, the timetabling procedures have evolved nationally and lack Europe-wide harmonisation, which creates barriers for a smooth cross-border traffic.

Further to this, the current timetabling process does not really fit the business model of rail freight. A significant part of the demand is volatile and cannot be planned long in advance, so ad hoc requests for train paths are in principle the most appropriate method to accommodate capacity needs. However, rail freight path requests are also made within the annual timetable process (scheduled paths), to avoid the risk of not receiving ad hoc train paths of suitable quality (or even none) at a later stage.

This often leads to suboptimal ordering behaviour and thus to a suboptimal management of infrastructure capacity, resulting in a waste of resources. In fact, train paths often need to be modified or even cancelled at a later stage, when the actual capacity needs materialise.

To address the sub-optimal use of rail infrastructure capacity, on 11 July 2023 the European Commission proposed a regulation aimed at enhancing the efficiency of rail infrastructure capacity management across the EU. This initiative seeks to revise the process for defining the timetable, allowing longer term planning as well as greater short-term flexibility in path allocation. The proposal also seeks harmonisation of capacity allocation and traffic management procedures and better coordination between infrastructure managers for allocation of cross-border rail paths. The anticipated outcomes include a 4% increase in overall network capacity, which would benefit both passenger and freight operations.

Figure 69 shows the reported number of successful and rejected scheduled path allocations in 2022 per country. 

Figure 69: Successful and rejected path allocations for scheduled path allocations per country (million path allocations, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

According to RMMS data, 25.78 million path allocations were successfully scheduled in 2022 in the EU27 and just 0.13 million rejected.

Likewise for ad hoc path allocation (shown in Figure 70 ), in 2022 about 1.3 million ad hoc paths were successfully allocated in the EU27, with just 3 721 rejected.

Figure 70: Successful and rejected path allocations for ad hoc path allocations per country (million path allocations, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Framework agreements between infrastructure managers and railway undertakings

Article 42 of Directive 2012/34/EU allows the conclusions of framework agreements for the use of the infrastructure for longer than one working timetable period. To provide railway undertakings and new entrants with fair access to the railway infrastructure and to optimise the use of infrastructure, the Commission adopted in 2016 Implementing Regulation 2016/545 7 on procedures and criteria relating to framework agreements for the allocation of railway infrastructure.

In June 2022, framework agreements were applied by the infrastructure managers of Spain (3), France (5), Italy (many) and Norway (1). In Germany framework agreements will likely be reintroduced for the working timetable 2024.

5.7.2.Managing capacity shortages

According to EU legislative provisions, infrastructure managers must survey the usage of infrastructure capacity and to meet all capacity requests in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. In case of capacity constraints, they must identify the reasons behind it and the measures to be taken in the medium to long term to satisfy additional requests. If, after coordination and consultation, train path demand cannot be matched, the relevant section of infrastructure must be declared congested.

Sections and nodes declared congested

Figure 71 shows the trends in the total length of track declared congested over the period 2018 to 2022 in the EU27. The congested tracks belonging to rail freight corridors, which are already included in the total congested tracks, are also reported separately in the chart for more clarity.

Figure 71: Total length of track declared congested (total and freight corridors) (km, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022.

The total length of track declared congested in the EU27 has risen sharply from 2018 to 2020 and then decreased slightly in 2022, reaching 6 711 kilometres, including 3 523 kilometres of rail freight corridors. The impressive increase in the of congested tracks (more than quadruple the 2018 level) is however largely due to a change in the criteria used to declare a section congested in Italy (see below).

Table 4 shows the distribution by country of total length of track declared congested over the period 2018-2022.

Table 4: Track declared to be congested (total including freight corridors) per country, (km, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

The network with the greatest length of declared congested track is that of Italy. However, the sudden increase in congested sections in Italy is due to a change in reporting reflecting the new criteria imposed by the Italian rail regulator ART to declare a section of the network saturated. Until 2019 Italy reported in the RMMS the routes declared saturated ex-post, i.e. after the coordination of the path requests introduced by railway undertakings. This meant very few pieces of the network ended up in being declared saturated.

After the intervention of the regulator – i.e. from data 2020 – Italian authorities reported in the RMMS the routes declared saturated ex-ante, i.e. before the coordination process of capacity allocation. They explained that according to ART a section should now be considered saturated even if it exceeds the hourly saturation threshold (85% of capacity) just for one hour per day.

Besides Italy, Germany, Romania, and Sweden were the countries reporting the highest number of kilometres of freight corridors congested (1014, 406 and 291 respectively in 2022).

Only Italy declared 261 and 15 kilometres of a high-speed line as congested in 2021 and 2022 respectively, although this break in the series is also due to the new regulator’s decision.

Table 5 shows the number of nodes declared congested according to Article 47.

Table 5: Nodes declared to be congested per country, (km, 2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Sweden reported the highest number of nodes (12) congested for 2022.

Principles for dealing with congestion

After a section of infrastructure has been declared congested, a new capacity enhancement plan needs to be developed or an existing one needs to be applied. For a new plan, the infrastructure manager must carry out a capacity analysis within 6 months, which results in the respective capacity enhancement plan within a further six months. Such plans must display the reasons for the congestion, the likely future development of traffic, any constraints on infrastructure development as well as the options and costs for capacity enhancement, including likely changes to access charges. This forms the basis to take a decision to remediate the congestion. The users of the relevant congested infrastructure are to be consulted on the plan and its measures.

According to Article 31 of Directive 2012/34/EU, infrastructure managers may levy a charge which reflects the scarcity of capacity of the identifiable section of the infrastructure during periods of congestion. The declaration of congestion for the identified section of infrastructure is therefore a prerequisite for levying such a charge.

The infrastructure manager must cease levying any charges for the use of the relevant infrastructure if no capacity enhancement plan is produced or if no progress with the measures agreed in the plan is made. Otherwise, if the plan cannot be realised, or if the measures in the plan prove not to be viable, the infrastructure manager may continue to levy the charge in agreement with the regulatory body.

The infrastructure manager may also employ priority criteria to allocate infrastructure capacity, if scarcity charges are not levied, or have not achieved a change in traffic demand behaviour. The criteria need to reflect the importance of a service to society relative to any other service, which will consequently be excluded. The importance of transport services under public service requirements and of national or international rail freight must be taken into consideration. Compensations to infrastructure managers for losses of revenues due to the capacity allocation to certain services may be granted, even including effects related to the exclusion of a service in another Member State. Procedures and criteria must be described in the network statement.

Priority rules and priority services

Article 45 of Directive 2012/34/EU permits the infrastructure manager to give priority to specific services within the scheduling and coordination process, but only as set out in Articles 47 and 49 (congested and specialised infrastructure). Many infrastructure managers make use of priority rules, and the principal types of service given priority – as they have been reported in the RMMS – are summarised in Figure 72 .

Figure 72: Principal types of services prioritised by infrastructure managers (number of MS assigning each priority, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Passenger services under PSO appear to be given the highest priority in a significant number of countries (14) whereas international passenger services are given the highest priority in 8 countries. Interestingly, only 4 countries reported giving the highest priority to freight (3 to international and 1 to domestic freight services) 8 .

Capacity restrictions due to infrastructure works

Infrastructure works are necessary to develop and maintain railway infrastructure, but at the same time they restrict available infrastructure capacity. The impact of capacity restrictions on international rail freight traffic appears to be particularly severe. This is because infrastructure managers usually prioritise the much faster and more punctual passenger trains, which leaves limited access to rail infrastructure for freight trains.

EU legislation 9 lays down rules to ensure there is a predictable schedule for and at least some level of coordination of infrastructure works across Member States. The purpose is to limit the impact of works on international rail traffic. Infrastructure works are subject to coordination rules, in particular along the rail freight corridors. However, coordination can only be effective if works are planned and executed in a timely manner.

The coordination of capacity restrictions across networks is challenging due to significant differences in the way infrastructure works are planned, financed and executed in different networks. Sound planning and execution of infrastructure works by infrastructure managers require a reliable financial framework and appropriate incentives to improve performance. As most infrastructure managers are dependent on public funding for at least part of maintenance and renewal expenditure, Member States have an important role to play.

EU legislation requires Member States to have contractual agreements 10 between their competent authorities and infrastructure managers, among other things to ensure sound financing of infrastructure works.

5.8.Rail transport services covered by public service contracts

Where a competent authority wishes to put at the disposal of its citizens, in the general interest, rail services that an operator would not assume to the same extent or under the same conditions without a reward, it can impose public service obligations.

The notion of public service obligations and the conditions under which competent authorities may provide compensation for the discharge of such obligation are laid down in Regulation (EC) 1370/2007.

Where a competent authority decides to grant the operator of its choice an exclusive right and/or compensation in return for the discharge of public service obligations, it must do so within the framework of a public service contract, i.e. a legally binding act confirming the agreement between the authority and the operator.

Regulation (EC) 1370/2007 lays down the principle that, for land transport, public service contracts must be awarded based on a competitive award procedure. Since the adoption of the Fourth Railway Package, this principle applies also to rail, with some limited exceptions. In several Member States rail public service contracts are already competitively tendered. However, during a transitional period that ended on 24 December 2023, Member States could still award rail public service contract directly.

Each competent authority is required to publish once a year an aggregated report on: (i) the public service obligations for which it is responsible; (ii) the selected public service operators; and (iii) the compensation payments and exclusive rights granted.

5.8.1.PSO scope

Figure 73 shows the share of passenger kilometres offered respectively under a PSO and a commercial rail services per country in 2022.

Figure 73: Share of passenger traffic offered respectively under a PSO and commercial rail services per country (% of pax-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, PSO passenger services represented on average 58.7% of the total passenger kilometres in the EU27. According to RMMS data, all passenger traffic was covered by a PSO in Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Romania. Over 30% of passenger kilometres are on commercially operated services in Austria, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Spain and France and Finland.

Services on a commercial basis without a PSO are typically provided in domestic long-distance and interurban markets. International services appear to be rarely provided under a PSO. Figure 74 shows the share of passenger traffic offered respectively under domestic and international PSO services per country in 2022, as reported in the RMMS by countries declaring to have international PSOs.

Figure 74: Share of passenger traffic offered respectively under domestic and international PSO services per country declaring to have international PSOs (% of pax-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

On average, in 2022, domestic passenger services represented 99.1% of the total PSO passenger kilometres in the EU27. Among countries that reported having international PSO services, Slovenia (21%) had the highest share of international PSO services on total PSO services, whereas Germany (1.5%) had the smallest.

5.8.2.PSO award

Direct award versus tendering

Figure 75 shows the proportion of PSO services, measured in passenger kilometres, which were competitively tendered or directly awarded in 2022 per country.

Figure 75: PSOs competitively tendered and directly awarded per country (billion pax-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, 29% of the 231 billion PSO passenger-kilometres in the EU27 were on services awarded through competitive tendering. Bulgaria and Sweden led with 100% of their PSO services competitively tendered. Notably, 92% of the passenger volume on competitively tendered services was concentrated in two early-liberalizing countries: Germany (81%) and Sweden (13%). According to RMMS data, competitive tendering was also gradually introduced in Italy, the Netherlands (to very limited extent at regional level), Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark, and Norway.

Overview of largest PSO contracts awarded during the reported period

The RMMS collects information related to the size of PSO contracts (if any) awarded during any reference year. Figure 76 shows the largest directly awarded and competitively tendered contracts measured in train kilometres in 2022 per country:

Figure 76: Largest PSOs competitively tendered and directly awarded per country (million train-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Germany reported the largest PSO contract competitively tendered in 2022 with 11.6 million train kilometres. The second largest competitively tendered PSO contract was reported by Sweden, covering 10 million train kilometres. The largest directly awarded PSO contract was reported by Hungary, covering 83.2 million train kilometres.

5.8.3.PSO compensation

Apparent levels of PSO compensation

Figure 77 shows the apparent 11  average levels of PSO compensation measured in EUR per train kilometre in 2022 per country.

Figure 77: Apparent average PSO compensation per country (EUR per train-km, 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Total revenues from passenger services are composed by fare revenues from commercial services, fare revenues from PSO services and PSO compensation. In 2022, the apparent average PSO compensation in the EU27 was EUR 15.82 per train kilometre. France and Spain have the highest apparent average PSO compensation (EUR 32 and EUR 19.14 per train kilometre respectively); in contrast, Finland reported the lowest compensation (EUR 2.06).

Share of PSO and commercial fares on total revenues of railway undertakings

Figure 78 shows the share of PSO and commercial fares in the total revenues of railway undertakings in 2022 per country. Total revenues include PSO fares, commercial fares and PSO compensation, but exclude PSO operators’ revenue from other sources, such as catering, car parking and concessions on stations.

Figure 78: Share of PSO and commercial fares on total revenues of railway undertakings (% in 2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, the share of PSO and commercial fares in the total revenues of railway undertakings in the EU27 was on average 53.6%.

5.9.Degree of market opening and utilisation of access rights

EU legislation has provided for an incremental opening of the rail market gradually over the years.

-From 1 January 1993, limited access was established by Directive 91/440/EEC.

-From 1 January 2007, the Second Railway Package liberalised international and domestic rail freight services.

-From 1 January 2010, the Third Railway Package liberalised international passenger services and some cabotage.

-From14 December 2020, the Fourth Railway Package, through Directive 2016/2370/EU and Regulation (EU) 2016/2338, liberalised the remaining passenger services, subject to measures to protect PSOs.

Some Member States, however, opened their rail markets in advance of the creation of a formal right of entry through EU liberalisation. On the other hand, in other cases, legal market opening has not resulted in any significant market entry by competitors.

In a study published in 2024 12 the European Commission explored the effects of competition on EU customers, encompassing both freight and passenger rail services (both in Open Access and under PSOs awarded by competitive tendering).

The study found that competition has led to a notable reduction in prices for end consumers in open access passenger rail competition, as well as in the freight rail sector. The assessment of the effects of competition on PSO services must be interpreted taking into account the specific nature of these services, involving a relationship between the operator and a competent authority, where the latter defines the service characteristics, typically including ticket prices. However, evidence from the case-studies showed that competitive tendering leads to reduced costs for competent authorities. It is for the latter, however, to decide whether and how to pass on these benefits to passengers (for example in the form of increased frequencies or higher quality of service).

In terms of service quality, the report identifies a marked improvement across all passenger services. This enhancement results from increased competition and is reflected in various aspects such as punctuality, frequency, comfort, and customer service. The freight sector, while not experiencing a similar increase in quality, has witnessed gains in cost efficiency.

Although market opening in passenger transport is relatively recent, with full effects still pending, continued implementation of the Fourth Railway Package and associated measures will be key to realising its full potential.

Key challenges for the market include infrastructure, ticketing, and equal access. In terms of infrastructure, enhancing interoperability, digitalisation, and developing flexible, coordinated timetables alongside efficient network traffic management at the EU level are essential. For ticketing, ensuring fair access to ticket platforms for all operators, as well as availability of ticket offers to independent ticket vendors, would promote transparency and competition. Additionally, equal access to infrastructure, rolling stock availability and financing, and service facilities must be ensured to allow all operators to compete on a level playing field.

5.9.1.Opening of the freight market

The following paragraphs provide an overview of the competitive environment at the end of 2022, 15 years after the liberalisation of rail freight services in the EU in 2007.

Evolution of competitors’ market share in the freight market

The competitors’ average market share in the EU27 rail freight market increased from 39% to 49% between 2018 and 2022.

Figure 79 shows the shares of the domestic freight markets, as measured in tonne kilometres, which are not served by the historic incumbent operator. The chart on the right shows the change in percentage points of the competitors’ market share between 2018 and 2022.

Figure 79: Competitors’ market share in the rail freight market per country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points (2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Competitors have the largest market share in Italy (63%), and the smallest in Estonia and Lithuania (3.1% and 0.6% respectively). The highest growth between 2018 and 2022 was reported for Belgium (26 percentage points), whereas a slight decline was reported in the Netherlands and Denmark (6 and 5 percentage points respectively).

5.9.2.Opening of the passenger market

The following paragraphs provide an overview of the competitive landscape in both commercial and Public Service Obligation (PSO) rail passenger services as of the end of 2022. Since the domestic market opening mandated by the Fourth Railway Package (effective from December 2019) had not yet fully taken effect, the data does not fully capture its impact. Instead, the presence of alternative operators reflects the extent to which each country chose to open its passenger market before the EU legislation's required implementation date.

Evolution of competitors’ market share in the commercial passenger market

On average, competitors had a 12.6% market share in national commercial passenger markets in the EU27 in 2022, an increase of 6.6 percentage points compared to 2018.

Figure 80 shows the shares of the commercial (non-PSO) passenger market, as measured in passenger kilometres, which are not served by the historic incumbent operator. The chart on the right shows the change in percentage points of the competitors’ market share between 2018 and 2022.

Figure 80: Competitors' market share in the commercial passenger market per country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points (2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

Competitors dominate the commercial passenger market in Ireland and Slovakia. Germany and France reported the lowest competitors’ market shares in the segment (4.3% and 3.7% respectively) 13 , with Hungary having also reported the largest increase since 2018 (52 percentage points).

Evolution of competitors’ market share in the PSO passenger market

On average, competitors had a 21% market share on national PSO passenger markets in the EU27 in 2022. This level increased significantly compared to 2018 (+8 percentage points).

Figure 81 shows the shares of the PSO passenger market, as measured in passenger kilometres, which are not served by the historic incumbent operator. The chart on the right shows the change in percentage points of the competitors’ market share between 2018 and 2022.

Figure 81: Competitors' market share in the PSO passenger market per country (% in 2022) and change in percentage points (2018-2022)

Source: RMMS, 2022

In 2022, competitors had the highest market shares of the PSO passenger market in Poland (81%) and Sweden (64%). In Latvia and Spain, by contrast, only 0.1% were in the hands of competitors. The highest growth of competitors’ market shares was reported by Poland (+33 percentage points between 2018 and 2022), whereas a major decline was reported for Sweden (-8 percentage points).

Scope for regulatory bodies to limit open access in the passenger market

The Fourth Railway Package opened domestic passenger markets to competition in all Member States 14 . Railway undertakings must be granted the right of access to railway infrastructure in all Member States for the purpose of operating rail passenger services under equitable, non-discriminatory, and transparent conditions.

The EU legislator, however, put in place mechanisms to balance the objective of effectively opening the market for domestic ‘open access’ rail passenger services with the need to protect the economic equilibrium of services provided under an existing public service contract. Member States can therefore restrict open access to their rail infrastructure where the national rail regulatory body decides, based on an objective economic analysis, that the new service would cause substantial damage to the economic equilibrium of the existing public service contract in terms of profitability of the services or higher net cost to the competent authority.

In November 2018, the Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1795 laying down the procedure and criteria for the application of the economic equilibrium test (EET) adapted to a rail market fully open to competition 15 . The regulation covers:

-rules for notification of a planned new rail passenger service to infrastructure managers and regulatory bodies

-the deadline for requesting the economic equilibrium test

-information requirements and procedure for the economic equilibrium test

-contents of the economic equilibrium test and assessment criteria and

-cooperation between regulatory bodies competent for a proposed new international passenger service.

A number of regulators published on their websites further details on the methodology they follow when implementing the economic equilibrium test.

Several economic equilibrium tests have been required and performed in Member States, now also under the new Regulation.

5.9.3.Challenges of market opening

Interoperability

Technical aspects can have a major impact on the capacity of operators to provide their rail transport services across borders and in different countries.

Differences in track gauges and electric current available for traction (presented in Table 6 ) mean that the same locomotives and wagons cannot be used in all countries. An expansion of activities across borders could imply in some cases that the railway undertaking must arrange for new rolling stock and new traction vehicles.

Table 6: Main railway gauge and electric current used per country (2022)