Executive Summary

The European railway sector stands at a critical juncture in its digital transformation. Infrastructure managers (IMs) are in the midst of planning the deployment of the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), the 5G-based successor to GSM-R that will underpin rail operations for decades to come. At the same time, the telecommunications industry is advancing rapidly towards sixth-generation (6G) network technologies, which the EU is funding through the “Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking” (SNS JU).

This position paper sets out EIM’s views on the role of 6G in the future of rail digital operations and the conditions under which 6G can genuinely serve IMs’ business needs in the coming years.

The central message is one of evolutionary ambition: EIM does not seek disruption but progressive enhancement. 6G must be designed to complement and extend FRMCS, not to displace it prematurely. Coverage, reliability, resilience and interoperability remain the non negotiable foundations of any railway communication system. Within those constraints, however, 6G offers genuinely transformative capabilities: integrated sensing, AI-native network management, more precise positioning and terrestrial-satellite integration that could fundamentally change how to monitor, maintain and operate rail networks.

Read the full Position Paper here :