„Romania will hold the Presidency of the EU Council between January and June 2019 and this will be a decisive period of policy change for the railway industry. The implementation of the Technical Pillar of 4th Rail Package will be completed in June 2019, and this is a major step for the rail industry suppliers as a new procedure for the authorisation and safety certification will enter into force.
The European Railway Agency will act as a one stop shop for rolling stock authorization and certification procedures”, Philippe Citroën, General Director of the European Railway Industry Association (UNIFE) said on attending Railway Pro Investment Summit , organised in Bucharest between October 3-4, by Club Feroviar and Railway PRO, with the support of the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF).
“We hope that Romania will put a pressure on finalizing the implementation of the Technical Pillar of 4th Railway Package because its implementation means cost and time reduction for rail authorization and safety certification procedures, and for us, the European railway industry, it is important that this package is implemented,” adds Philippe Citroën.
UNIFE has pointed out that it hopes it can count on the support of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council for collaboration with the European Railway Agency (ERA) and the European Commission in this respect.
“The current financing programming will end in 2020. The funds earmarked through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and the Cohesion Fund have proved to be instrumental for the development of railways in Europe and Romania, albeit.
Thus, the future Romanian Presidency of the EU Council will have a key role in adopting investment programs for rail transport development in post-2020 programming framework.
It is important for Romania to be successful in adopting the new Framework Program for Research and Development, including the PPP Shift2Rail,” Citroën points out.
A Joint Position Paper on the post-2020 EU budget was co-signed by all major European rail stakeholders for the financing of railway projects after 2020.
While financial instruments, such as EFSI funds, can be an additional source of funding for railway projects, the European Union’s grants must remain the basis for financial support for the development of rail transport projects.
“If we do not put pressure on Shift2Rail’s inclusion in the next financing period, post-2020, we can see that there are other similar programs that could finance the development of road transport instead of rail sector” Philippe Citroën emphasizes.
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