European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) chief Oana Gherghinescu has called for a radical shift in how Europe builds, funds, and manages its railways, stressing that rail should be functional, standardised, and affordable — not fine art.

Speaking in Copenhagen in Denmark at the Cutting Cost in Rail conference, co-organised by ERA, the Danish Ministry for Transport, DG MOVE, Trafikstyrelsen and Europe’s Rail, Gherghinescu urged the sector to abandon its habit of crafting masterpieces and take a more industrial approach. Denmark currently presides the Council of the European Union. 

Rail is special, but should not aim to be fine art, she said, taking aim at Europe’s often bespoke, and thus costly, national rail systems that limit international compatibility and scales of economy. 

Fine art comes with unique concepts — rail is a masterpiece when it’s based on full standardisation, she told delegates. In a post shared on LinkedIn after the conference, she expanded on the concept. Fine art is custom-made, and replicas are not welcome — rail should follow an industrial approach, with economies of scale, she wrote. Prices for fine art are huge and increase over time — rail should be more and more affordable for the wide public.

Gherghinescu added that, unlike art locked in private collections or in museums, European rail should cross borders seamlessly, easily, with leaned processes, with no further checks and as a true European Union solution. 

Standardisation, harmonisation, and scale

Her call, ultimately, was for a railway built on standardisation, harmonisation, and scale — not on national or supplier-specific customisation. The metaphor builds on themes Gherghinescu has emphasised since taking over ERA’s leadership earlier in the year. 

When she assumed the role, she argued that digitalisation, automation, and artificial intelligence are only as good as the data behind them. Her view of innovation is rooted in practicality — grounded in shared data, standardised systems, and long-term stability rather than experimentation for its own sake. 

ERTMS, she said in Copenhagen, is the best test case for this approach: Europe’s flagship digital signalling system must be deployed in a harmonised, prioritised, and cost-effective way. 

That means tackling fragmentation in implementation across borders, streamlining engineering rules, and curbing the cost inflation caused by repeated redesigns and one-off national variations. 

For Gherghinescu, this is as much about mindset as it is about method. Rail should cross borders seamlessly, easily, with leaned processes, she wrote. Achieving that, she concluded, is a challenging journey, which takes courage and joint action from all stakeholders. Much looking forward to this journey together to make European rail a masterpiece — not in the fine art terms.

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