ERA Work Programme 2026-2028 (SPD)

The European Commission has set out ambitious priorities for the 2024–2029 mandate. Among these priorities, the following are particularly relevant for ERA: 

1. A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness - This priority aims to make Europe a leader in economic growth and innovation. For railways, this means investing in and developing railway technology to boost productivity, tackle skill gaps, and improve the competitiveness of the rail sector. This also includes the necessary work to implement a true Single European Railway Area.
2. Sustaining our quality of life: Food security, water and nature - This is about building a competitive and resilient economy while protecting the environment. Railways are seen as a key part of this due to their low carbon footprint, and this priority encourages a modal shift from more polluting transport methods (like road transport) to rail.
3. Delivering together and preparing our Union for the future - This priority focuses on a more impactful EU budget and reforms to ensure a larger Union functions properly. It involves simplifying and speeding up funding processes for large-scale infrastructure projects, such as the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) Core rail network. This also includes simplifying EU legislation and reducing administrative burdens, which helps streamline the deployment of new technologies and infrastructure across different member states.
4. A global Europe: Leveraging our power and partnerships - It focuses on strengthening the EU’s influence on the world stage. Railways contribute to this by promoting the European rail industry and its standards internationally. More specifically, the Global Gateway Initiative is crucial to boost smart, clean, and secure links in digital, energy, and transport sectors. Railways are a key component of this initiative, as it has strong standards and technologies which can be promoted abroad and propel European rail industry as a global leader in the market
5. A new era for European Defence and Security - Railways are crucial for military mobility due to their capacity to transport heavy, oversized, and specialized equipment quickly and efficiently across borders, through dual-use infrastructure (civilian and military) and harmonisation and simplification to reduce barriers that could hinder military movements. 

Furthermore, in its political guidelines for 2024-2029, the Commission highlights it is imperative to ensure that Europeans can buy one single ticket on one single platform and get passengers’ rights for their whole trip.” This ambition is directly reliant on the work of the Agency. ERA will support the European Commission, in line with its accountability ceiling, in achieving its goals, in particular through the further development and effective functioning of SERA, by guaranteeing a high level of railway safety and interoperability, while improving the competitive position of the railway sector, as envisaged by the Agency Regulation 2016/796.