Women in Rail Award 2025

As part of the European Rail Safety Days (European Rail Safety Days 2025 | European Union Agency for Railways), the 2025 edition of the Women in Rail (WiR) Award is dedicated to recognising and showcasing as role models, teams and organisations who are making an outstanding contribution to bringing the railway industry forward and facilitating the access of other women to opportunities in the railway industry.

This award is an initiative that builds upon the WiR Agreement, furthering its mission to promote gender diversity and inclusion within the railway sector.

The 2025 edition of the Women in Rail Award is organised by the European Commission’s Women in Transport Platform, European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail), Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), Association of European Railway Industries (UNIFE), European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM), Federation of European Train Drivers’ Union (ALE).

This year, the Women In Rail Award will focus on the following themes:

• the Women Empowerment Award, recognising the work of an organization/company that would have implemented measures to ensure gender equality at the workplace;
• the Leadership and Mentoring Award, recognising the exceptional leadership and mentoring skills of a woman through her concrete actions in favor of women in the railway sector;
• the R&I in Railway Award, recognising the outstanding work of a women working in engineering or on technical aspects, from academia and/or from the railway industry that positively impacted the European railway industry through research and/or projects implementation.
• The Next Generation in Rail Award, recognising outstanding educational initiatives, projects and activities that empower girls and young women (from Primary to Higher Education, so from 6 to 25 years old audience) to explore careers in the rail sector.

The four winners will be invited to European Rail Safety Days in Kraków, Poland on 1 October 2025. Winners will be offered the opportunity to present their projects during high-level stakeholders meetings and networking events, as well as develop opportunities within the rail sector. 

The winners of the Women in Rail Award 2025 have now been selected and will be officially recognised during the award ceremony on 1 October in Kraków, as part of the European Rail Safety Days. Their achievements reflect outstanding contributions to gender equity and innovation in the rail sector. In addition, the programme will feature Workshop 11B: “Next stop: Gender equity in railways”, a thematic session dedicated to advancing inclusion and diversity across the industry. Full details will be announced soon.