UNIFE has issued a stark warning that EU member states could be leaving billions of euros in rail funding on the table if they do not complete “necessary milestones and targets” by August 2026 – the deadline for the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Its message to EU countries? Engage with the Commission, and quickly…
According to UNIFE, Europe’s leading rail supply industry association, EU nations across the bloc are at risk of missing out on significant funds to upgrade their rail networks and rolling stock fleets as the deadline for tapping into the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) draws closer.
The EU’s RRF, a 723.8 billion euros fund launched in 2021, has so far provided up to 650 billion euros in grants and low-interest loans to support economic recovery, sustainability, and digital transition across the bloc following the pandemic. A significant portion of these funds – more than half of the 87 billion euros allocated to sustainable mobility – has been directed towards railway projects at both urban and mainline levels.
All EU states have capitalised on these funds in some form or other, with many successfully doing so to boost their national rail networks; Italy, for example, has used the money to plan a massive 29 billion euros in different rail upgrades. That’s included investing big sums in high-speed rail, new rolling stock, and its ERTMS rollout, which together is essentially reviving the fortunes of their network. Meanwhile, Spain, France and Romania have all used more than 4.5 billion euros each to boost their rail infrastructure, digitalise their networks and modernise their fleets.
Race against time for EU rail investment
However, UNIFE warns that many member states are at risk of letting these funds slip through their fingers due to the slow progress of their rail projects or the difficulties of the bureaucratic hurdles they face. The August 2026 deadline for EU nations to submit payment requests to the European Commission is fast approaching. Essentially, to secure funding, national governments must complete all milestones and targets associated with their RRF-supported rail projects by next year. If they don’t, any unused RRF funds will expire after the deadline.
That means many bloc members will be unable to finance pending rail schemes, potentially causing serious delays and, at worst, cancellations of major projects, as they have to reach into their own national budgets to finalise huge transport investments.
The problem here is that the long implementation cycles inherent to rail projects – ranging from the years of planning, construction, and regulatory approval needed for high-speed infrastructure all the way to the extended timeline for rolling stock upgrades – make meeting the EU’s deadlines particularly challenging. UNIFE says it has alerted the Commission to these difficulties, and while extending the 2026 deadline does bring legal and political complexities, Brussels is apparently willing to support member states in amending the milestones and targets of some rail projects to reflect these longer cycles.
‘Shovel-ready’
“With the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the European Commission is aiming at turning a crisis into a generational opportunity to boost European mobility and innovation,” UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe said in a statement on Thursday. “Many of these funds could go towards creating jobs on ‘shovel-ready’ rail projects, fleet renewals, boosting the ERTMS roll-out, improving and greening urban mobility and advancing on the completion of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).”
However, “many EU member states have budget concerns, and we want to insist on the need of not missing this historic opportunity to invest in rail.” UNIFE is essentially pushing the Commission to offer greater flexibility and apparently, it is already working with member states to adjust certain project criteria in order to help them access funds.
The future of EU rail funding
As for the future of funding for rail, the EU is preparing its next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Policymakers are set to introduce a ‘performance-based funding method’ across various EU funding programmes, including the rail sector – meaning that securing cash will likely become much more challenging. Indeed, UNIFE has said that unless future rail projects are considered with achievable and appropriate schedules, they may struggle to secure financial backing under these new rules.
“The application of the RRF performance-based method will be the rule across different EU funding programmes,” Wiebe emphasised. “We need to make sure that rail projects are given sufficient and realistic timelines to be able to benefit from EU funding.”
As for what happens before the change in the funding mechanism, UNIFE says that it “stands ready” to continue engaging with the Commission and other relevant stakeholders in order to address these shortcomings. And for member states, UNIFE’s message, while implicit, is clear: ensure rail projects have realistic timelines, engage with the Commission to adjust milestones if needed, and move swiftly to complete all necessary targets before August 2026 – before EU funds for rail start to dry up.
This article was originally published on our sister publication RailTech.com