The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) brings together 70 railway

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

 undertakings and infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

 companies from the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, the candidate countries (Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

) as well as from the Western Balkan

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 countries, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Purpose

It is based in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 and represents its members’ interests vis-à-vis the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

, European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 and European Council of Ministers

Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

 as well as other policy makers and transport actors.

The CER’s main focus is promoting the development of rail as essential to the creation of a sustainable transport system which is both efficient and environmentally sound. A key priority in this respect for the CER is the achievement of a more balanced modal split

Modal share

Modal share, Mode split or Modal split, is a traffic / transport term that describes the number of trips or percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation....

 in the transport system, minimising external costs arising to society and improving economic efficiency. In parallel to the railways’ own initiatives for improving the quality of rail services, the CER sees ensuring sufficient investment in infrastructure rail projects as a prerequisite for achieving the desire modal split.

Areas of Interest

All policy areas of significance to railway transport are dealt with by the CER, which offers advice and recommendations to European policy makers. The CER monitors and contributes to railway policy making. Its interests span the whole spectrum of European transport policy: infrastructure planning, passenger and freight services, public service, the environment, research and development and social dialogue.

Members

Country	Company	Acronym
Albania	Hekurudha Shqiptare	HS
Austria	Österreichische Bundesbahnen	ÖBB
	Salzburger Lokalbahn	SLB
	Wiener Lokalbahnen Wiener Lokalbahnen The Aktiengesellschaft der Wiener Lokalbahnen is an Austrian transportation company in Greater Vienna and is, through the Wiener Linien Gesmbh, a subsidiary of the Wiener Stadtwerke Holding AG....  AG	WLC
Belgium	Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen/ Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges	NMBS SNCB
	SNCB Holding / NMBS Holding
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Željeznice Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine	ŽFBH
	Željeznice Republike Srpske	ŽRS
Bulgaria	Balgarski daržavni železnitsi	BDŽ
	Balgarska Schelesnopatna Kompania	BRC
	National Railway Infrastructure Company
Croatia	Hrvatske Željeznice Croatian Railways Croatian Railways is the national railway company of Croatia. It was formed after the dissolution of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Railways.Croatia is a member of the International Union of Railways . The UIC Country Code for Croatia is 78.-Railway network:...	HŽ
Czech Republik	České dráhy Ceské dráhy České dráhy or Czech Railways is the main railway operator of the Czech Republic. In 2010 its consolidated revenues reached CZK 41.0 bn...	ČD
	Spáva Železnicni Dopravní Cesty	SZDS
Denmark	Danske Statsbaner	DSB
	Railion Danmark A/S
Estonia	Aktsiaselts Eesti Raudtee Eesti Raudtee Eesti Raudtee or EVR is the national railway company of Estonia. It owns a network of 691 km of broad gauge railway throughout the country, including the 132 km used by the Elektriraudtee commuter trains around Tallinn...	AER
Finland	VR-Yhtymä Oy	VR
France	Société nationale des chemins de fer français SNCF The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...	SNCF
	Thalys Thalys Thalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. Thalys reaches...
	Veolia Transport Veolia Transport Veolia Transport is the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement...
Germany	Deutsche Bahn Deutsche Bahn Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...  AG	DB
	TX Logistik
Greece	Organismos Sidirodromon Ellados	OSE
Irland	Iarnród Éireann CIE -Organizations:* Cambridge International Examinations, an international examination board* Cleveland Institute of Electronics, a private technical and engineering educational institution — the International Commission on Illumination...	CIE
Italy	Ferrovie dello Stato Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. Trenitalia is owned by Ferrovie dello Stato, itself owned by the Italian Government. It was created in 2000 following the EU directive on the deregulation of rail transport.-Passenger transport:...  SpA	FS
Hungary	Central European Railway Transport, Trading and Service Co.	CER
	Magyar Államvasutak Hungarian State Railways Hungarian State Railways is the Hungarian national railway company, with divisions "MÁV Start Zrt" and "MÁV Cargo Zrt" ....	MÁV
	MÁV Cargo
	MÁV-START
	Magyar Vasúti Egyesülés (Hungarian Railway Association)
	Raaberbahn AG / GYSEV Zrt.	GySEV
	Vasúti Pályakapacitás-elosztó Kft. (EIU)	VPE
Lettonia	Baltijas Ekspresis
	Latvijas Dzelzceļš	LDZ
Litania	Lietuvos Geležinkeliai Lithuanian Railways Lithuanian Railways is the national, state-owned railway company of Lithuania. It operates all the railway lines in the country.Lithuanian Railways' main network consists of 1749 km of broad gauge railway of which 122 km are electrified. They also operate 22 km of standard gauge...	LG
Luxemburg	Chemins de fer luxembourgeois Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois is the national railway company of Luxembourg. In 2005, the company carried approximately 14.1 million passengers and 11.7 million tonnes of goods...	CFL
	CFL Cargo
Macedonia	Makedonski Železnici Infrastructure (EIU)	RFYMI
	Makedonski Železnici Transport (EVU)	RFYMT
Montenegro	Željeznica Crne Gore Railways of Montenegro Rail transport in Montenegro is operated by three separate companies, which independently handle railway infrastructure, passenger transport and cargo transport.Montenegro is a member of the International Union of Railways...	ŽCG
Netherlands	Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...	NS
	Railion Nederland
Norvege	Norges Statsbaner BA	NSB
Poland	CTL Logistics CTL Logistics CTL Logistics is a Polish rail JSC company operating mainly in freight transport. It consist of several dependent companies responsible for different areas of railway business. It is the biggest private railway company in Poland.-Share in local market:...	CTL
	Polskie Koleje Państwowe Polish State Railways is the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...	PKP
	Rail Polska Sp.z o.o.
Portugal	Comboios de Portugal Comboios de Portugal thumb|250px|right|CP suburban trains at São Bento Station in Oporto.CP — Comboios de Portugal, EPE is a state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains in Portugal...	CP
Romania	CFR Calatori Caile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...	CFR
	CFR Marfa Caile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...	CFR
	Compania Nationala de Cai Ferate SA	CFR
	Grup Feroviar Român Grup Feroviar Roman Grup Feroviar Român, or simply GFR, is the largest private railway company in Romania and one of the largest in South Eastern Europe. Founded in 2001, the company owns freight operations in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Mozambique, and railcar production and...	GFR
	S.C. Regiotrans s.r.l.	RT
	Servtrans Invest
Sweden	Branschföreningen Tågoperatörerna
Switzerland	BLS Lötschbergbahn Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway The Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway, known since the merger of the "old" BLS with the Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn , the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn and the Simmentalbahn in 1997 as the BLS Lötschbergbahn, is a Swiss railway company. It is the largest standard gauge network on the Swiss Railway...  AG	BLS
	Schweizerische Bundesbahnen	SBB
Serbia	Železnice Srbije Serbian Railways Serbian Railways is the national railway carrier of Serbia. Its current network spans a distance of 4,347 km in length, with 32% electrified railways....
Slovakia	Bratislavská regionálna koľajová spoločnosť	BRKS
	Železnice Slovenskej Republiky (EIU)	ŽSR
	Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko Železnicná spolocnost Slovensko Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko a.s. is Slovak state-owned passenger trains operated company, based in Bratislava.In 2002 a company Železničná spoločnosť was established as a successor of personal and cargo transport part of the Železnice Slovenskej republiky. In 2005 this new company was further...	ŽSSK
	Železničná spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia	ŽSSK Cargo
Slovenia	Slovenske železnice Slovenske železnice Slovenian Railways is the state railway company of Slovenia, created in 1991 from the Ljubljana division of the former Yugoslav Railways after the breakup of Yugoslavia.Slovenia is a member of the International Union of Railways...	SŽ
Spain	Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias	ADIF
	RENFE RENFE Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...  Operadora	RENFE
Turkey	Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Turkish Republic or TCDD is the government owned, national railway carrier in the Republic of Turkey, headquartered in Ankara...	TCDD
United Kingdom	Angel Trains International Angel Trains Angel Trains is an English Rolling Stock Operating Company created in 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. It was one of three ROSCOs...
	Association of Train Operating Companies Association of Train Operating Companies The Association of Train Operating Companies is a body which represents 24 train operating companies that provide passenger railway services on the privatised British railway system. It owns the National Rail brand. The Association is an unincorporated association owned by its members...	ATOC
	English, Welsh & Scottish Railway DB Schenker Rail (UK) DB Schenker Rail , before 2009 known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway is a British rail freight company. EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation in 1996 by acquisition of five of the six freight companies created by the privatisation of British...	EWS
	Eurostar Group Eurostar Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....