The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER)

Around 15000 lobbyists and 2500 lobby organisations are based in Brussels. All of them are trying to articulate and represent various interests during the political decision-making process. For 25 years CER has been recognised as the voice of European railways in this competitive environment - delivering practical and reliable information to all European institutions in the debate about the future of (rail) transport.

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) is the leading European railway association. It was founded in 1988 with twelve members and now brings together more than 70 rmembers - European railway undertakings, their national associations as well as infrastructure companies. The membership is made up of long-established bodies, new entrants and both public and private enterprises.

CER members represent about 61% of the rail network length, more than 84% of the rail freight business and about 99% of rail passenger operations in EU, EFTA and EU accession countries.

Geographically, CER members come from the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, Moldova, the candidate countries (Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey) as well as from the Western Balkan countries.

CER is based in Brussels and represents the interests of its members to the European Parliament, European Commission and Council of Ministers, as well as to other policy-makers and transport stakeholders CER’s objectives are to contribute to a regulatory environment enhancing business opportunities for European railway and railway infrastructure companies.

• 31/03 EU Commission partners with railways launching Connecting Europe Express
• 24/11 Brexit: a solution must be found for the rail business community
• 29/09 Customer protection top priority for Europe’s rail operators
• 29/03 Major transport and energy groups sound alarm on e-mobility: Europe must accelerate infrastructure plans
• 06/06 Rail as a key to decarbonising transport
• 09/05 Railway sector joins forces to deploy digital technology
• 10/06 Council’s work on the Fourth Railway Package goes in the right direction