PRIME presented its first results of the working priorities for 2014 defined by major infrastructure managers and the European Commission services earlier this year.

Today, the General Assembly of European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM) elected a new Vice-President, Mr. Antti Vehviläinen, Director-General of Liikennevirasto (Finnish Transport Agency), who takes the seat of Mrs. Marion Gout-van Sinderen, CEO of ProRail (NL).

EIM welcomes the formal adoption of the regulation by the Council at the Transport Council in June. Some EIM members have already signed up to the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking and EIM strongly believes in the great potential that the Shift2Rail initiative holds to develop a competitive European rail sector. Better cooperation on research and innovation in the sector is needed to strengthen the foundation of a future Single European Rail Area.

EIM’s members have today adopted a reform of the association’s statutes to allow all rail infrastructure managers to join EIM, independent of their organisational structure, ownership and size. This gives the opportunity for national, non-national, public and/or private infrastructure managers to be part of EIM.

On 12th June 2013 in Zurich, chief executives from rail infrastructure companies discussed issues of key strategic and political importance to the European railway sector. In particular, the CEOs recognised that the work of the rail infrastructure managers is at the heart of enhancing the rail network in Europe, striving for better services to the benefit of rail transport customers and tax payers.