The deal focuses on how railway infrastructure capacity is planned, allocated and managed across borders, addressing long-standing problems caused by fragmented national systems. Poor coordination between countries has often resulted in delays, cancelled train paths and reduced reliability — issues that have hit rail freight operators particularly hard.
“Cross-border rail capacity has long been a weak point of Europe’s transport network, especially for freight operators that depend on predictable train paths.”
Freight reliability at the centre
While the agreement applies to both passenger and freight rail, the changes are expected to be especially relevant for freight transport. Freight trains typically run on tight margins and are more vulnerable to last-minute changes in infrastructure availability, particularly at border sections.
According to the TRAN committee, the deal aims to reduce bottlenecks by improving advance planning and coordination between infrastructure managers in different countries. This should make it easier to secure cross-border train paths and reduce disruptions caused by mismatched national timetables or uncoordinated maintenance works.
“Better coordination between infrastructure managers could significantly reduce the uncertainty that rail freight operators face when running international services.”
Part of a wider push to strengthen rail
The agreement forms part of the EU’s broader efforts to make rail more competitive and to shift more freight away from road transport. However, industry groups have repeatedly warned that without reliable and predictable capacity allocation, rail freight struggles to compete with road haulage on flexibility and delivery times.
For road transport companies, the changes could indirectly affect modal competition, particularly on long-distance and cross-border corridors where rail is promoted as an alternative to trucking.
“If implemented effectively, the new rules could make rail a more viable option on busy international corridors — with potential knock-on effects for road freight.”
The provisional deal still needs to be formally approved through the EU legislative process before it can enter into force. Once adopted, member states and infrastructure managers will be required to apply the new coordination rules when planning cross-border rail capacity.
For now, the agreement signals political backing for tackling one of the most persistent structural problems in European rail transport — one that has long limited the growth of international rail freight.
