Europe is thinking hard about how to deal with looming security threats. Part of the necessary measures to be taken concern military transport, where rail is bound to play a crucial role. The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) shared its views on what Europe ought to do to use rail to its full potential.
With the many countries scattered around the continent, lots of interstate coordination is necessary to streamline transport. “Improved understanding and cooperation at all levels will contribute to facilitating operation planning and execution”, CER says.
“The EU and its member states should strive to streamline administrative procedures in order to accelerate the needed regulatory clearances to enable the swift, large scale, cross-border movements of military assets and convoys, as reiterated in the EU’s Military Mobility Action plans”, CER continues. “In this context it may be necessary to consider the procedures for extraordinary shipments, establishing priorities as appropriate for military convoys.”
Crisis coordination
CER has some ideas of its own on how to proceed. “There is a need to create a functional governance system (at the EU and Member State level, as well as with relevant institutions such as NATO) to enable military and civilian regular coordination and cooperation, involving the representatives of the railway system but also other critical modes (port infrastructures and sidings). A steering structure could prove to be essential for coordinating actions particularly during a crisis”, the association says.
Moreover, CER highlights the need for increased security resilience in the rail sector. As such, Europe should implement a strategy to protect “critical railway infrastructure and its support systems from direct actions (from hybrid attacks including cyber attacks) that could damage or impede operations and enhance the cyber security of the railways system.” By extension, Europe should ensure that critical operations continue through redundant systems and that critical infrastructure can be quickly restored in the event of a crisis.
Rolling stock and money
Additionally, Europe should replenish the rolling stock fleet adapted to military transport. That includes special purpose vehicles, “such as those capable of operating in different operational environments or adapted to specific needs, including for the transport of specialised military personnel and medical support”, CER says.
“Traction solutions will be needed to operate cross-border in alternative scenarios, i.e. locomotives equipped with internal combustion engines in the case of a wide scale shortage of the electric power system.” CER also points to the need for appropriate wagons and maintenance, parking and fuelling facilities.
In terms of financing, a clarification of the dual-use requirement is “urgently needed”, because it defines the basis of eligibility of measures under EU-funding. Moreover, defense needs should become a mainstream part of funding instruments, says CER in its position paper.
Because of the large 94 per cent overlap between the civilian and military transport networks, a lot of the already well-known sector wishes would also improve military mobility, according to CER. Among those are:
– ERTMS
– Digital Automatic Coupling
– Technical Specifications for Interoperability
– Infrastructure expansion, renovation and TEN-T network development
– Improving capacity management, including through the EU’s capacity management regulation
