The European Year of Rail was a timely recognition of the role railways can and should play in addressing key challenges in European transport and logistics. With a proven track record in providing not only sustainable but also resilient transport services, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, rail can help meet rising transport demand without jeopardising our Green Deal climate ambitions. The Year of Rail raised awareness of rail’s benefits but also called to light the areas for improvement to ensure that rail can deliver to its full potential: infrastructure, interoperability, digitalisation, customer experience, investment needs…

'Keeping rail a priority after the Year of Rail' was therefore chosen as the topic of the roundtable discussion at the 2022 European Railway Award ceremony.

Panellists Adina Valean (European Commissioner for Transport),  Andrey Novakov (MEP & Chair of Rail Forum Europe), Henri Poupart-Lafarge (UNIFE Chair and Alstom Transport CEO) and Andreas Matthä (CER Chair and ÖBB CEO) shared their views on how best to build on the momentum created by the European Year of Rail, to support the sector in its ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and as a vehicle for wider economic growth.

This short video set the scene for the discussion.