Friday Brief: EU sets common rules for how rail capacity is shared
Plus: India’s rail contractors are coming to Europe / HS2 has tripled in cost, slowed down and pushed back by a decade
EU sets common rules for how rail capacity is shared
EU: Europe’s rail network will operate under a unified capacity planning regime from December 2030, after the European Parliament gave final approval to the Capacity Management Regulation on 19 May — closing a legislative process that began in 2023.
The regulation replaces annual, nationally siloed capacity allocation with multi-year planning, digital coordination and financial penalties for non-compliance.
Cross-border freight and night trains are the primary beneficiaries. Both depend on path agreements spanning multiple national networks — each currently governed by its own planning cycle with no structured mechanism for cross-border disruption recovery.
Infrastructure managers must now align to common frameworks through the European Network of Infrastructure Managers. The first timetable produced under the new regime is due December 2030.
India’s rail contractors are coming to Europe
The selection of an Indian contractor for a EUR 677m railway upgrade in Croatia is not just a procurement outcome — it is the first concrete signal that Indian engineering, procurement and construction firms are moving into European rail infrastructure, and the structural conditions that produced it are not going away.
By Dan Jensen
Afcons Infrastructure, owned by India’s Shapoorji Pallonji Group, will reconstruct and double-track 83 km of TEN-T corridor between Dugo Selo and Novska — its first European contract and largest international order to date.
Unlike Chinese state-owned enterprises, Afcons carries no state subsidy profile subject to FSR scrutiny. It competed on commercial terms.
HS2 has tripled in cost, slowed down and pushed back by a decade
UK: HS2 will cost up to GBP 102.7 billion (EUR 118.8 billion) — three times its 2019 estimate of GBP 35–45 billion — with top speed cut from 360 to 320 km/h and first services now not expected before 2036.
First services will run between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham; the central London terminus at Euston will not be reached before 2040–2043. The speed reduction from 360 to 320 km/h is projected to save up to GBP 2.5 billion.
A concurrent government report found that civil service oversight of the project had been systemically deficient, with cost and schedule risks consistently underreported to ministers.
Škoda takes Helsinki tram contract to Finland’s top court
FINLAND: Škoda Transtech has appealed to Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court against its exclusion from a Helsinki tram tender, asking for contract signing with Stadler to be suspended until the case is resolved.
The contract at issue covers 63 Stadler Tango Nordic trams built in Siedlce, Poland, with options for 120 further vehicles and a 30-year maintenance agreement. If the suspension request is granted, contract execution is frozen pending a final ruling.
Finland’s Market Court dismissed Škoda Transtech’s earlier challenge on 27 March, upholding the exclusion on technical compliance grounds.
SBB Cargo cuts 50 freight points from December
FREIGHT: SBB Cargo will stop serving around 50 freight points in single-wagon traffic and relocate around 200 staff as it moves to implement its single-wagon load (SWL) network restructuring, with changes taking effect in December 2026.
The network contracts from around 280 to approximately 230 served points, aligned with the timetable change on 13 December 2026. The operator says 98% of current freight volume will be retained.
Industrial customers using single-wagon services through Swiss transit corridors will need to reassess routing before the December implementation date.
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