The COVID-19 crisis showed the rail sector’s resilience - its capacity to help fight the epidemic and assist society in general, despite plummeting passenger and cargo figures. As a resilient, environment-friendly mode, rail should be relied on all the more during the recovery period to get Europe’s economy back on track while continuing to bring down global emissions for the sake of the climate. The European Year of Rail is a timely recognition of the role railways can and should play in addressing these key challenges.

'The Resilience of Rail' was therefore chosen as the topic of the roundtable discussion at the 2021 European Railway Award ceremony. 

Panellists Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (MEP, Transport and Tourism Committee), Adina Valean (European Commissioner for Transport), Henri Poupart-Lafarge (UNIFE Chair and Alstom Transport CEO) and Andreas Matthä (CER Chair and ÖBB CEO) shared their views on how best to support the sector in its own recovery and as a vehicle for wider economic growth and achievement of the EU’s Green Deal objectives.

This short video set the scene for the discussion.