Source: Deutsche Bahn AG / Bartlomiej Banaszak
Date of the event
17 May 2021 from 9:30 hrs to 16:00 hrs (virtual event)
The programme of the event can be found here.
Livestreams
The English stream can be found here.
The French stream can be found here.
Brief description
The Ministry invites you to join the 2021 Rail Summit – 2021 Conference on the Future of the Railways in the European Year of Rail. On 17 May 2021, during a virtual event under the slogan of “Introducing regular interval services for Germany and Europe”, the new German railway policy will be presented with a look ahead to the European Year of Rail and the coming years.
You can expect an innovative and interactive conference programme during which, among other things,
- the Letter of Intent on the TransEuropExpress 2.0 – TEE 2.0 (International high-speed and overnight rail services to promote climate change mitigation) will be signed by the Transport Ministers of the EU Member States as well as Switzerland and Norway;
- the trilateral agreement on the upgrading of the Berlin – Dresden – Prague – Vienna railway link (Via Vindobona) will be announced;
- the major lines of future rail transport and the regular interval services for Europe (Europatakt) will be debated in high-level panel discussions; and
- the concrete challenges in upgrading the infrastructure (to shift more passengers and goods to the railways), in digitalizing the railway system (communication of benefits) as well as in progressing the transformation of transport (objectives and framework conditions) will be discussed in expert workshops.
What is it all about?
On 15 December 2020, the European Parliament accepted the European Commission’s proposal to declare 2021 the European Year of Rail. The decision, which was accepted by the Council on 16 December, is in line with the European Union’s efforts to promote environmentally friendly modes of transport and become climate neutral by 2050 by means of the Green Deal. Across the EU, as in Germany, numerous activities are planned to promote rail transport and encourage citizens and enterprises to switch to the railways.
Following the 1st Rail Summit on 7 May 2019 (Interim report of the Alliance for the Future of Rail) and the 2nd Rail Summit on 30 June 2020 (Rail Transport Masterplan – Rail Pact – Deutschlandtakt target timetable), the 3rd Rail Summit will focus entirely on the European perspective and Germany’s role as a transit country and European hub. After four years of new railway policy, we want to review the preliminary results and place them in the European context. The Deutschlandtakt has kick-started the introduction of regular interval services for Europe (Europatakt). Now, the two are being aligned to establish European unison.
The stream of the signing of the Letter of Intent on TEE 2.0 and the trilateral Via Vindobona Agreement can be found here (English) and here (French).
 Source: Fotolia / nokturnal | |
 Source: Adobe Stock / nokturnal | Concept TEE 2.0 |
 Source: Deutsche Bahn AG | EuroLink Presentation |
 Source: Fotolia / Michael S. Schwarzer | Factsheet: Platform on International Rail Passenger Transport (IRP) |
 Source: Fotolia / bidaya | First proposal for an Europatakt |
 Source: Deutsche Bahn AG / Volker Emersleben | Gemeinsame Absichtserklärung zwischen dem Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und dem Ministerium für Verkehr der Tschechischen Republik und dem Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie der Republik Österreich über die Zusammenarbeit bei der Weiterentwicklung der Eisenbahnverbindung Berlin – Praha – Wien (German) |
 Source: Deutsche Bahn AG | Letter of intent: International high-speed and overnight rail services |