The European rail sector is evolving to meet growing demands.
To support this, the European Union is proposing to introduce the role of Network Coordinator (NC) – an important step towards making international rail traffic more competitive, and seamless.
As a driving force in European rail cooperation, RailNetEurope (RNE) is proactively preparing for its potential role as Network Coordinator.
This ensures readiness to support the European Network of Infrastructure Managers (ENIM) under the proposed EU Regulation on use of rail infrastructure capacity.
Background of the Network Coordinator Role
Growing demand for rail capacity makes international coordination and efficient use of available infrastructure more important than ever. So far, Rail Freight Corridors (RFCs) have played a role in facilitating cross-border coordination.
To further streamline processes and provide a single point of contact for various stakeholders, the Network Coordinator concept has been introduced as part of the new EU legislative framework.
The draft EU Regulation on the use of railway infrastructure capacity, published in July 2023, amends Directive 2012/34/EU and Regulation 913/2010. It sets out objectives to be achieved by:
- the future European Network of Infrastructure Managers,
- with operational support from the newly established Network Coordinator.
RailNetEurope was considered a strong candidate for the Network Coordinator role from the start.
In 2023, RNE set up a dedicated team and began preparations, as it had already performed several of the envisaged tasks.
In November 2024, the Platform of Rail Infrastructure Managers (PRIME) officially proposed RNE for the role.
Work Scope of the Network Coordinator
To support ENIM, the Network Coordinator is expected to:
- Carry out specific activities, such as providing a secretariat to ENIM and acting as a contact point on behalf of infrastructure managers/ENIM
- for enquiries related to capacity planning and allocation
- for stakeholders interested in using rail services
- for operational stakeholders on the launch or change of cross-border rail transport services.
- Prepare defined deliverables, including drafts of the European frameworks for capacity management, traffic management, disruption management and crisis management and performance review and a common structure for network statements.
- Support ENIM to implement capacity management and traffic management processes by means of digital tools and services.
However, the legislative proposal does not provide details regarding the organisation, legal status, or operational relationships of the Network Coordinator with ENIM.
RNE’s preparations for the potential role as Network Coordinator
To ensure readiness for the potential Network Coordinator role, RNE is working on several key topics.
Following an in-depth analysis of the draft Capacity Regulation, RNE has structured its preparations around four main themes:
- Scope of Activity: Identifying key tasks of RNE as future network coordinator and required resources.
- Organisation: Analysing need for amendments to existing organisational set-up of RNE to be ready to fulfil network coordinator role (e.g. questions around membership, decision-making processes, relations with PRIME).
- European Frameworks: Identifying gaps between requirements of draft Regulation for European frameworks on capacity management, traffic management and performance review and existing RNE documents.
- Financing: Establishing a financial framework for the future Network Coordinator’s operations.
1 Scope of Activities
This workstream should enable RNE to gain a clear view on its future scope of activities as Network Coordinator, along with the associated resource and prioritisation requirements. To this end, potential future activities are being clustered, taking into account criteria such as
- Mandatory activities under draft regulation
- Other mandatory activities
- Optional activities
- One-off activities vs recurrent activities
- Activities with deadlines under legislation
2 Organisation
This workstream focuses on the organisational aspects of the Network Coordinator role.
It is carried out in close cooperation with the PRIME Governance sub-group.
The topics covered by this sub-project include:
- The type of organisation that the Network Coordinator shall have.
- Questions around Membership in the Network coordinator
- Decision-making processes
- The relationship between ENIM and the Network Coordinator
3 European Frameworks
This activity focuses on identifying gaps between existing RNE documents and the new regulatory requirements for the Frameworks.
It aims to ensure that all gaps are addressed to provide draft European Frameworks meeting the requirements of the regulation.
For this workstream, it is especially evident that RNE relies on the support and willingness of all its members to collaborate and find common solutions that serve the best interests of the entire project.
The tasks include:
- Conducting an in-depth gap analysis between existing RNE documents and the requirements of the new regulation, focusing on structure and content of the European
- Defining the general scope and structure of the European Frameworks following the gap analysis.
- Drafting proposals for two to three Frameworks (prototype). The number of Frameworks still depends on the pending decision regarding which entity (Network Coordinator or another) will be responsible for drafting the Framework for Performance Review.
- Ensuring close cooperation with the RNE Network Statement and Corridor Information Document Working Group (NS&CID WG), so that the updates can be prepared on time.
4 Financing
This activity is focused on establishing the financial framework necessary for the successful operation of the future Network Coordinator role.
Key activities will include:
- Establishing the financial framework for the future Network Coordinator.
- Supporting RNE IM Members by coordinating their participation in the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding activities related to the implementation of requirements from the regulation.
- Assessing the financial needs and available resources for both the central entity (Network Coordinator) and the IMs (RNE and ENIM members) once the regulation comes into force
Contact
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Latest Network Coordinator Updates
This website provides an overview of the Network Coordinator preparation activities. As such, it serves as a central hub for all key information.
For more specific updates and up-to-date insights into ongoing developments, we regularly publish news articles and LinkedIn posts.
You can find all related articles in our dedicated Network Coordinator news section.