Discover the Annual Report of last year

2020 has been a true game changer in every sense of the term.

The global pandemic has been a stress-test for all governments, economies and societies. Social distancing and lockdowns became the norm and this had a disruptive effect on rail travel (especially passenger rail), which is traditionally based on connectivity and interchange.

On the other hand, the pandemic also illustrated the strategic importance of rail infrastructure in ensuring freight flows and passenger travel. The new EU concept of “green lanes” is set to stay. In parallel, the EU recovery strategy to address the effects of the pandemic at a Member State level clearly fosters investments in rail.

The EU Green Deal and the EU Mobility Strategy 2020 also set a new political framework: a carbon neutral economy by 2050 and the doubling of rail freight and tripling of passenger high speed trains by 2050.

To reach these targets, the EU has launched an array of reforms to trigger a modal shift from more polluting modes of transport to rail. Connectivity, capacity and resilience have become the key issues in this context.

Never more than now do rail infrastructure managers have an interest in joining forces and exchanging best practice to create and strengthen their levers to fulfil the rising expectations of railway infrastructure.
More and faster investments in physical and digital assets are essential, but a different approach to technical and operational norms and procedures is also needed. The increasing drive for ever closer interoperability is one of the largest cost drivers in the market and creates a substantial hurdle to a seamless, cost-efficient and innovative railway market. If it is not delivered in the form of standardisation, and implemented in the most cost-efficient way possible.

2020 delivered substantial challenges to each and every member of our organisation. We managed to overcome those challenges and can now look to the opportunities that lie ahead.

Therefore, we would like to thank our colleagues, friends, partners but also the team at EIM for the excellent work achieved in 2020.

Let’s stay safely on track together.

Gorm Frimannslund, President of EIM and CEO of BaneNOR, Norway

Monika Heiming, Executive Director of EIM