Post by Frank Nuernberg

This week we had the privilege of welcoming Mrs Vivien Costanzo, Member of the European Parliament to our Alstom Kassel Site. Our exchanges allowed us to underscore Alstom’s contribution to cross-border rail freight thanks to the highly flexible Traxx locomotives, the strategic importance of the rail supply industry in Europe in a changing geopolitical context, and the role of Alstom as a leading enabler for innovation in rail transport. Mrs Costanzo visited our site together with Marlene Hermfisse (European Parliament), Daniel Bettermann (German Bundestag) as well as Esther Kalveram (Hessen regional parliament).   We were able to present: 1️⃣ the advantages of our Traxx Universal & Passenger locomotives designed to operate over the various European rail corridors with Onvia on-board signalling 2️⃣ good experience to pool European funding for ERTMS when retrofitting legacy vehicles of different customers with ERTMS 3️⃣ the preparedness for the hybrid Digital Automated Coupler   The engaged session also addressed key subjects such as: ▶️ the importance of earmarking EU funding for specific railway projects and technologies to better target investment in rail, securing the innovative strength and global sovereignty of European industries ▶️ the upcoming revision of the legal framework for public procurement, which could strengthen the market position of European railway suppliers as well as securing homegrown jobs ▶️ challenges linked to authorisation processes for cross-border rolling stock We thank Mrs Vivien Costanzo and her colleagues for the open dialogues and their interest in the future of the European rail industry!