At the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) in Valenciennes, France, FERRMED and representatives of its stakeholder alliance held a highly valuable session focused on the next steps for multimodal transport innovation in Europe.
The meeting brought together institutional, industrial and digital perspectives, including the European Shippers’ Council (ESC), UIRR, the industry association for road-rail combined transport, and Certifydoc. The discussion addressed near-future pilots, Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI), and the digital interoperability of the +FIRRST system.
This exchange confirmed the importance of coordinated action between public institutions, transport operators, industry associations and digital trust providers. In a context where Europe is strengthening the resilience, efficiency and autonomy of its strategic infrastructures, multimodal transport interoperability is becoming a key enabler of more competitive and future-ready logistics corridors.
Digital interoperability is not only a technical requirement. It is also a condition for trusted data exchange, operational continuity and scalable cooperation across rail, road-rail combined transport, shippers and logistics stakeholders. In this perspective, initiatives such as +FIRRST can contribute to aligning innovation with practical deployment needs, supporting more efficient and interoperable transport solutions.
This session at ERA represents one further step in an ongoing journey towards practical innovation in multimodal transportation, with interoperability as a central pillar for Europe’s transport performance, industrial competitiveness and strategic autonomy.
