Europe's rail sector must grow up and enter the real world of hi-tech business

ID 78980408 © Jörg Hüttenhölscher | Dreamstime.com

The comments by Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc to the European rail freight sector that “rail accounts for 73% of European transport funding but accounts for under 12% of modal share” is a timely wake up call to the industry and member states.

And the commission’s annual rail freight conference in Vienna on 7 December provided a very useful reminder of what the railways across Europe are failing to do.

Although this refers primarily to freight, passenger trains generally run on the same ...