Executive Summary

Europe’s rail infrastructure managers are no longer anticipating climate change. They are managing it daily. From the Valencia floods that paralysed East of Spain’s network, to Portugal’s severed Lisbon–Porto corridor, to accelerating damage across Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Nordic countries, extreme weather has become the new operating reality. Southern Europe has acted as an early warning of the climate risks that are now spreading northwards across the continent.

The cost of inaction is clear. On flood risk to European railway networks, current estimates of expected damages amount to €581 million per year, projected to rise by 255% at 1.5°C warming and 310% at 3°C under high-emissions scenarios. Evidence shows that every euro invested in resilience today returns €6 in avoided losses.

The Draghi, Letta, and Niinistö Reports, the 2025 Preparedness Union Strategy and the Competitiveness Compass all point in the same direction. What is missing is the financial commitment to match the political ambition.

EIM calls on the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission to make climate adaptation of rail infrastructure a dedicated funding priority in the next Multiannual Financial Framework.

Concretely, EIM requests that the post-2027 MFF:

• closes the rail adaptation funding gap with adequate resources;
• addresses the increasing frequency and severity of extreme climate events by ensuring adequate financial instruments to manage rising adaptation costs and higher risk for infrastructure managers;
• shifts from reactive repair to proactive resilience by funding anticipatory investment in resilient infrastructure and early warning systems;
• encourages climate-proofing under EU rail co-financing;
• reforms cost-benefit frameworks to capture the full value of avoided losses and co-benefits and;
• supports shared tools and harmonised climate data for infrastructure managers across Member States.

With adequate funding and vision, we can build the climate-resilient European railway network that the next generation of citizens, businesses and communities will depend on.

Read the full Position Paper here :