CER aisbl - Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies

CER the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies welcomes the European Commissions initiative to develop a Right to Stay Strategy and strongly supports its central ambition: ensuring that everyone in the European Union can live, travel and work in the place they consider home. Freedom of movement is one of the Unions fundamental achievements and must also support the freedom to stay.

In 2008, the world reached the peak of conventional oil production (IEA – 2018 World Energy Outlook). It is now estimated that the peak of absolute oil production has already been reached or is on the verge to be reached this year. CO2 emission is therefore not the only challenge we will have to face in the coming decades.

CER welcomes the publication of the Proposal for a Regulation on speeding-up environmental assessments (2025/0391 (COD)). It is a timely piece of legislation as cutting red tape and administrative hurdles can save time and costs.

The Electrification Action Plan represents a pivotal opportunity to reinforce the competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability of the European rail system. With over half of the EUs railway network already electrified, further progress must balance ambition with safety, security, and reliability.

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) welcomes the Commission's Draft guidance on the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). Please find attached two comments on spare parts related to the very long life cycles in the railway sector. CER remains at your disposal to further discuss this topic.

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) welcomes the European Commission's initiative to develop guidance on the application of the 'do no significant harm' (DNSH) principle under the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Please see attached full response of CER. CER welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback to the call for evidence for an evaluation of Connecting Europe Facility 2014-2020 (CEF I). For rail, CEF is the key financing instrument for bridging missing links and removing bottlenecks on the TEN-T Core Network Corridors, thus increasing the competitiveness and market share of the European rail system.

We have uploaded our position paper on the Regulation on passenger rights in the context of multimodal journeys and Review of the passenger rights Regulations. For a short overview, our main messages are: Responsibilities and duties of each entity need to be better defined and balanced. Proposal introduces many new obligations for carriers, while being unreasonably light on the responsibility of the intermediaries.

CER’s members considers the protection of their customers first and foremost as the sector’s own long-standing commitment. CER members understand that the passenger experience is the decisive factor when customers choose their transport mode.

CER SUPPORTS the Commission’s objective and approach... CER welcomes the launch of the work on the revision of the Combined Transport Directive and the draft roadmap which the Commission published on 19 August 2021 outlining its intended actions until a legislative proposal comes out in Q4 2022.

As railways are the backbone of Military Mobility, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) strongly supports this initiative. Military Mobility is inherently dual-use and the three identified gaps regulatory, infrastructure and capabilities must be addressed in a dual-use perspective as to deliver maximum benefits for both civilian and military applications.

97% of the CO emissions from an overnight hotel stay are linked to how guests arrive and depart. This shows that mobility is the key driver of sustainable tourism. Among long-distance transport options, rail stands out as the greenest choice.

Please see attached document for full CER response. CER welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback to the call for evidence for an evaluation of Connecting Europe Facility 2014-2020 (CEF I). For rail, CEF is the key financing instrument for bridging missing links and removing bottlenecks on the TEN-T Core Network Corridors, thus increasing the competitiveness and market share of the European rail system.

CER signed joint positions with EIM, UIP, ERFA and UIC, CIT on the revision of Telematics TSI / OSDM. The positions are attached. On the revision: ERA published the TAF/TAP recommendations in January 2022 after 4 years of work by the ERA TAF and TAP working parties according to the TSI revision mandate (decision 2017/1474) and traceability of the modifications in the ERA CCM Revision tool.

CER welcomes the opportunity to share the view of its members and to provide input to the European Commission before the presentation of the revised regulation. As a member of the Group of Representative Bodies (GRB), CER also signed the Joint Sector Position on the Revision.

CER, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies, thanks the European Commission for the opportunity to provide evidence for the impact assessment of the new Transport Block Exemption Regulation (TBER).