The paper was released at part of CER’s 71st General Assembly, which was held in Brussels last week. The assembly brought together Europe’s leading rail CEOs to discuss the ambitious work program for 2023.
CER reported that it supports all efforts to decarbonize railway transport and recognizes that hydrogen propulsion for the railway sector can play a role in this. In the paper, CER Position Paper on Hydrogen Propulsion in the European Railway Sector, CER acknowledges the work carried out by the standardization organizations, both at European as well as at international level, and stresses that national approaches must be avoided.
The European Union Agency for Railways is encouraged to assess with the sector and with the input of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (ERJU) to which extent requirements for hydrogen propulsion can or should be integrated into EU regulation in the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI).
“The railway operating community believes in following the technical developments of other industries and refraining from developing railway-specific solutions and technologies,” CER noted. “Nonetheless, railway-specific needs do need to be properly addressed in regulation and standardization, or alternatively sufficient room must be given to have gaps defined by the railway sector. CER recommends the completion of the standardization landscape with a focus on refueling stations and hydrogen logistics.”
At the General Assembly, CER also approved three other important position papers. Under the Sustainable and Smart Sustainability Strategy, the European Commission is expected to publish a legislative proposal on rail capacity allocation and management in the coming months. To support the Commission’s drafting process, CER has developed sectoral positions on three crucial topics of capacity allocation and management, namely position papers on Time-Tabling Redesign & Digital Capacity Management (TTR & DCM), on Commercial Conditions, and on Temporary Capacity Restrictions (TCRs).