European rail is once again embracing change. On 19 October 2011 the European Commission (EC) proposed a dual regulation: a review of the Union guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) and a proposal for a financial framework labelled the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The proposals are dedicated to the establishment of a genuinely inter-connected European transport network linking (by 2030-2050) the key European cities, ports and airports in a multimodal fashion with rail at its core. Not only are the proposals timely, they are strategic: they set out a clear long-term vision and implementation tools for a seamless inter-connection across the entire European continent.

This paper expresses the EIM vision regarding the requirements of braking performance in the TSI OPE.

The revision of Directive 2004/49/EC (Safety Directive) has introduced a new Article 14a (2008/110/EC), dealing with the certification of the Entity in Charge of Maintenance (ECM). It assigns a new task to the Agency, drafting a recommendation for the certification scheme, which is supported by the amendment of the Agency Regulation EC 881/2004 (EC 1335/2008).