IRJ at 3rd UIC FRMCS Conference: Speaking during the opening session of the event in Paris on November 19, Mr Keir Fitch, head of rail safety and interoperability with DG Move at the European Commission (EC), told delegates not to rely on European Union (EU) funding for future rail projects.
“We have helped to pay for a lot of GSM-R and ETCS, but our financial support in the future is not clear,” Fitch told delegates. “The EU is on a seven-year budget cycle and the next budget will be finalised in 2028.
“We will help where we can, but don’t rely on us,” he warned. “We will still be there to provide technical support.”
Fitch explained to IRJ that there may be a change in the way EU funding is allocated. Rather than allocating money to specific projects, as happens today with the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) where there are calls for projects which require funding, in the future tranches of money may be allocated to member states with guidelines on how it should be spent. “There is some opposition to this, especially from the regions,” Fitch revealed.
Fitch said the emphasis will be on strategic projects such as the Digital Automatic Coupler (DAC) and cross-border schemes, but less money may be available overall if, for example, defence spending has to be increased substantially to support Ukraine.
