AERRL calls for urgent actions to enhance European rail transport

The Association of European Rail Rolling stock Lessors (AERRL) presented on 21 January 2025 its Manifesto 2024 - 2029, highlighting the need for coordinated deployment of the ERTMS from a single BL3.4 release, and urging that the market for the procurement of new rolling stock should not be disrupted. These two key measures are an absolute necessity to enhance European rail transport and to reach the Green Deal objectives, particularly the rail freight target growth.

AERRL, representing key investors in modern and cross-border rail rolling stock, urges European authorities to focus public funds on infrastructure improvements and to avoid subsidies that could disrupt the market for new rolling stock acquisition. Instead, subsidies should be directed towards upgrading existing rolling stock with ERTMS, FRMCS, and DAC technologies.

AERRL also calls for a coordinated deployment of the ERTMS from a single BL3.4 release, ensuring compatibility with existing standards to avoid market fragmentation and inefficiencies. They call for this, pointing out that the European ERTMS network is currently a patchwork of increasingly expensive technologies, holding back the development of rail transport, while this technology should improve traffic safety and infrastructure capacity.

The Association also presents its Manifesto, which includes three other axes:
- to facilitate Asset Life Optimisation,
- to promote standards as prerequisite for further transparency and compliance when implementing EU framework,
- to close the human resources and skills gap in the rail sector.

The Association spoke through its Chair, Fabien Rochefort, its Secretary general, Carole Coune, but also through Christian Kern, CEO of ELL and former CEO of ÖBB and former Chancellor of Austria. Christian Kern, CEO of ELL: “Best of luck to the new European leadership team as they tackle the formidable challenges ahead. Let's drive the change together for a safer, innovative and sustainable railway system! We invite to read our recommendations, as leading investors, published in the AERRL Manifesto 2024 - 29, aiming to maintain the attractiveness of rail rolling stock for private investors who want to contribute to the Green Deal.”

Fabien Rochefort, AERRL Chair: “With their experience in the management of thousands of rolling stocks operating every day for hundreds of rail operators, in all geographies and European borders, the lessors are calling for a regulatory framework that supports innovation without limiting the use of existing assets, that is stable and based on industrial capacities and serious cost-benefit analyses.”

AERRL's Open letter to Mr. Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism European Commission

"As an association committed to realizing an innovative, sustainable, and efficient vision for rail transport, we are eager to collaborate with you and other stakeholders to achieve the ambitious goal of reducing CO2 emissions from transport by 90 % by 2050. We believe that the modal shift from road to rail is a critical component of this strategy.

AERRL represents the group of rail stakeholders that currently invest the most in modern and cross-border motorized rolling stock in the European Union. By doing so, AERRL members are significantly contributing to the sustainability of the transport industry and the greening of the rail fleet. Notably, 80 % of the newly ordered leased fleet are electric.

Lessors are the primary investors in locomotive procurement in Europe, with approximately € 800 million spent annually over the past decade. As these investments increase, we expect to reach €1  billion per year by 2027. What's more, with € 600 million spent each year on maintenance, the total amount we have allocated to railway rolling stock comes to € 1.4 billion a year.

With extensive experience managing thousands of rolling stock operating daily for hundreds of rail operators across various geographies and European borders, we strongly urge the European authorities to act quickly and precisely in two directions. Firstly, public funds should be mainly focused on infrastructure, where needs are enormous - for example, by reducing track access charges - and improving global efficiency of the railway system for the benefit of all operators in a fair and in a non-discriminatory manner.

The situation is very different when it comes to railway rolling stock. As a proof of evidence, rolling stock lessors demonstrated over the past 15 years their capability to finance and deliver locomotives towards the locomotive passenger and freight market. In this capacity, we strongly recommend being careful not to design a subsidy that would disrupt the market of new rolling stock acquisition. We think that subsidies or public funding for the procurement of newly built rail rolling stock should be more strongly or explicitly forbidden in the regulation.

Subsidies related to rolling stock must be exclusively focused on upgrading existing rolling stock with ERTMS, FRMCS and DAC. European support could be also related to industry research and development projects likely to facilitate cross-border operations or prepare for the end of diesel traction.

Secondly, the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) should be deployed in a coordinated manner from a single BL3.4 release as a foundation, with regulations that support the use of existing locomotives without imposing new limitations.

Locomotive lessors have over the past years massively invested in modern corridor, electric, diesel and dual-mode locomotives to support the cross-border operation of numerous European Freight and passenger railway Operators. Most of these are natively equipped with ETCS BL 2 and more recently BL 3. In this context we are requesting that the FRMCS standard must be natively compatible with existing BL3.4 standard.

AERRL members have long been committed to ERTMS interoperability, the timely deployment of the best technologies and the regular upgrading of the vehicles they hire. They remain committed to this but are sounding the alarm: the abnormal instability of the regulations and the constant fragmentation must be ended, through European coordination of deployment and European decisions based on better impact analyses.

Without decisive action on your part, the European ERTMS will remain a patchwork of increasingly expensive technologies, holding back the development of rail transport, while this technology should improve traffic safety and infrastructure capacity. Other facts and opinions are described in the attached AERRL Manifesto 2024 - 2029. We hope you enjoy reading it.

We are confident that with your leadership, Europe can achieve its climate goals while enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of its transport sector. We look forward to the opportunity to discuss these recommendations further and to contribute to the development of effective policies and initiatives."

Fabien Rochefort, Chair

Carole Coune, Secretary General