UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe has warned that Europe risks surrendering its global rail technology advantage unless EU policymakers commit to a successor programme to Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking. Speaking just weeks ahead of his appearance at RailTech Europe, where funding and delivery trade-offs will be high on the agenda, Wiebe warned that “pausing now would put a decade of hard work and investment to waste, and benefit rivals.”
Addressing a Rail Forum Europe event at the European Parliament this week, Wiebe pointed to a decade of EU-backed rail innovation now at risk. “We’ve spent a decade working with the European institutions to develop rail technologies and breakthroughs that have kept us number one in the world,” he said, warning that without continued investment, “non-EU countries will gain a global competitive advantage precisely when Europe should be prioritising innovation, competitiveness and strategic autonomy.”
The implication, Wiebe argued, is not simply about research continuity, but about Europe’s ability to convert innovation into industrial leadership. The European rail supply industry can retain its world-leading position only if public–private rail research continues beyond the current EU-Rail framework, particularly as rival economies such as China continue to heavily support and invest in domestic rail technologies.
A successor to EU-Rail
At the heart of UNIFE’s warning is the absence, so far, of a confirmed successor to Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking once the current Horizon Europe cycle ends in 2027. While political rhetoric from Brussels has increasingly emphasised competitiveness, innovation and resilience, Wiebe cautioned that these priorities must be matched by concrete funding commitments if European industry is to avoid falling behind non-EU suppliers.
UNIFE has set out what it describes as a realistic pathway, calling for €3bn from Horizon Europe’s successor programme, FP10 for the 2028–2034 period, alongside around €15bn for the pre-deployment of key rail technologies via the European Competitiveness Fund.
“Investing in a successor to Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking means the European Rail Supply Industry can compete with the EU’s global rivals, who are focusing and investing in tech to pull ahead and achieve market supremacy,” Wiebe said. “This is what Europe does best – policymakers working with private industry to ensure tech development that achieves strategic EU goals like growth, decarbonisation and strategic autonomy.”
From research to deployment
UNIFE says the case for continued funding is already proven by the results of the past decade of European rail research. Flagship outputs such as the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) and Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) are now approaching deployment. FRMCS is central to Europe’s planned transition away from GSM-R towards 5G-driven next-generation rail communications, which will in turn enable digital signalling, interoperability and capacity upgrades. DAC, meanwhile, is one of the key EU-made technologies available to help the rail freight sector compete more effectively with emissions-heavy road and air transport.
Without assured investment to bridge research into large-scale rollout, UNIFE warns that Europe risks seeing its own innovations industrialised and commercialised elsewhere. That risk, the association argues, hinges on whether Europe follows through on deployment. As Wiebe put it: “Pausing would put all of that hard work and investment to waste, and benefit rivals.”
RailTech Europe: funding, trade-offs and delivery
These issues will carry directly into Wiebe’s contribution at RailTech Europe 2026 in Utrecht this March. The UNIFE Director General will take part in Day 2 of the conference, within the session Military Mobility as a rail system driver – funding, trade-offs and delivery, which examines how defence-led priorities are beginning to shape how rail projects are selected, sequenced and delivered across Europe.
Within that session, Wiebe will also join the panel Financing the future of rail – EU perspectives alongside MEP Kai Tegethoff, focusing on the practical operation of EU funding instruments and subsidy frameworks, and how they can support innovation, cross-border investment and strategically important rail technologies.
RailTech Europe is a two-day event made up of a free exhibition and an exclusive conference with a different theme on each day. The first day focuses on rail sustainability and decarbonisation, while the second examines Europe’s defence-driven shift and its implications for the rail sector. You can attend for one day or both.