EU transport ministers on 8 June 2026 debated a wide range of railway issues, including ERTMS deployment, rail freight competitiveness, passenger rights, and autonomous vehicles, at a Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council chaired by Cyprus. The discussion revealed divergent national positions on governance, standardisation, and regulatory simplification, with no formal decisions taken.
On ERTMS, Greece argued for a stronger role for the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and mutual recognition of national systems, while Bulgaria stressed the need to balance this with national competences. Italy and Czechia backed predictable certification and stable technical specifications (TSIs), while Belgium urged simplification but warned against overloading ERA. Lithuania and Denmark called for stable standards to control costs for industry.
For rail freight, Czechia, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, and Poland stressed decarbonisation, military mobility, and eastern-border connectivity, with Hungary highlighting infrastructure quality gaps. On railway industry competitiveness, Spain and Portugal flagged delivery delays from major EU manufacturers and called for a high-level dialogue. Hungary noted that non-European manufacturers are outperforming EU ones. Germany and France supported a strategic framework, with France advocating European-content requirements.
On the passenger rights package, Germany and France welcomed measures but warned against bureaucracy; Belgium strongly backed single ticketing; Czechia cautioned that banning broken tickets could raise fares. For autonomous vehicles, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Germany, and Czechia supported harmonised rules and testbeds. On clean transport corridors, Germany and Sweden backed the initiative; Romania pressed for extension to all corridors.
The chair concluded that the Council took note of the information presented. The debate sets the stage for future legislative proposals, with stakeholders including rail operators, manufacturers, passengers, infrastructure managers, and EU institutions affected by potential regulatory changes.