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CIT Executive Committee meeting on 17-18 September 2026 in Madrid on invitation of Renfe
The CIT Executive Committee’s second meeting of 2026 was held in Madrid in mid-September at the invitation of RENFE management, represented by esteemed member Fernando de Lucas de Rose, and was chaired by CIT Chair Maria Sack (DB). She warmly thanked the colleagues from RENFE for kindly hosting the Committee meeting.
Part A of the agenda comprised a statutory report by CIT Secretary-General Erik Evtimov, on the possibility for substantial reduction of the CIT Budget 2027 and the CIT Reserve Fund, as well as the usual statutory agenda items – elections, implementation of Executive Committee decisions, next steps regarding CIT regulations, and the preparation of the CIT General Assembly in Bern on 26 November 2026.
In Part B of the agenda, the CIT team delivered a comprehensive report on passenger transport and, in particular, the Commission’s new proposal on the new EU “Passenger Package” to strengthen passenger rights and data protection. At the heart of the proposed legislation is the introduction of the so-called “single ticket” under the revised Passenger Rights Regulation (PRR). The aim is to ensure that passengers who make a single booking for a journey involving several railway undertakings (RUs) are, in principle, afforded comprehensive protection of their passenger rights throughout the entire journey, including for missed connections. The team then reported on freight transport and the latest developments in the international use of wagons, as well as infrastructure use in the context of the new EU Capacity Regulation[1]. In this regard, the CIT General Secretariat further informed the CIT Executive Committee that the European Railway Platform (ERP) has not yet been formally established. Once this has taken place, CIT will apply to participate as an associate member or observer and will contribute to the specific topics set out by CIT’s CUI Committee. The various questions on further operationalisation of the Convention on Unified Railway Law (URL) with tailor-made transport documents were also an important topic on the agenda.
Following the forthcoming General Assembly on 26 November 2025 at the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in Bern, the first Executive Board meeting in 2027 will take place on 22 and 23 April at CIT premises in Bern.
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[1] Regulation (EU) 2026/1184 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2026 on the use of railway infrastructure capacity in the single European railway area, amending Directive 2012/34/EU and repealing Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 (Text with EEA relevance).