The context of the forum is three-fold: Governance, Digitalization, and Financing.

It is based upon the European Green Deal and the ongoing evaluation of the Regulation EU 913/2010.

Matthias Finger, the Director of Transport Area at the Florence School of Regulation, introduced the event and the organization.

Maurizio Castelletti, Head of Unit “Single European Rail Area” at DG move, introduced the ongoing evaluation of the Regulation (EU) 913/2010. The evaluation started in 2019; a publication of the evaluation is scheduled for early 2021.

Moving on to the first session, the conference moved on to find out more about another network: The ENTSO-E, an association of European Transmission System Operators. Laurent Schmitt, the Secretary-General of ENTSO-E, explained how the governance and work are done.

Eric Lambert, Senior Business Development Manager at CFL Multimodal, speaking on behalf of the ECCO group, on their view of the ongoing evaluation of the Regulation (EU) 913/2010. In the upcoming days, the ECCO group will present their ideas.

Emanuele Mastrodonato, Managing Director of the ScanMed RFC, presented the Brenner Axis Task Force as an example of a concrete initiative of supranational coordination of functions. The Task Force is a project that is expected to bring additional value to the involved stakeholders.

Mr. Castelletti stated that the ScanMed RFC Brenner Axis Task Force is one of the best examples of such initiatives (supranational coordination at a regional level). This kind of initiative has to be promoted. The railway sector is even more complex than the energy sector, and this Task Force is a good exercise that could show what we can expect for the next years.

The round table discussion focused on questions shared by the participants. From a ScanMed RFC view, the questions focused on the potential success factors of the Brenner Axis Task Force and how it can be exported. Mr. Mastrodonato informed that the stakeholders’ engagement proves and gives life to the Task Force’s success. Another question focused on unique European train numbers. Mr. Mastrodonato informed the participants that, as a 1^st result of the Brenner Axis Task Force, we have now, for the first time, a tri-lateral catalog of residual capacity that includes ad-hoc trains with a unique train number across the three countries and Infrastructure Managers. Finally, a question regarding the monitoring of quality and how terminals are integrated. Mr. Mastrodonato informed about the ongoing TIS – Terminal Pilot Project (monitored by ScanMed RFC) that sees the cooperation among DB Netz, DUSS, RNE, RFI, Terminali Italia across different ongoing end-to-end performance monitoring projects).

The round table discussion was fascinating, focusing on different topics such as the evolution of supranational entities, the One-Stop Shops of the RFCs, and the development of the RFC’s role as Coordinator.

The conference continued with round table discussions on digitalization and financing. Many questions were submitted, and lots of fruitful discussions were concluded.

To find all presentations and a summary – please visit the FSR website.