S  C  E  N  A  R  I  O 

  It is widely believed that railways represent the only transport mode which can significantly contribute in the next years to solve the increasingly difficult mobility and congestion problems in the European transportation system, as roads and airways approach saturation and cause damaging environmental effects.
The continued growth in transport demand puts in evidence the existing problems of Europe's transport system and forces authorities to adopt precise and robust action plans to get real improvements in a reasonable period of time. The recently issued White Paper "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide" identifies "revitalising the railways" as one of the main objectives, to be achieved first of all opening up the markets, pushing for further harmonisation in the fields of interoperability and safety, improving railways credibility, in terms of regularity and punctuality, and completing the envisaged trans-European Network.
To effectively address such objectives and support its strategic role, the railway system needs to improve all parts of its organisation, removing bottlenecks and taking advantage of new technologies: an important factor is the maintenance activity, and its impact on system performances, costs, quality of service and openness. While initiatives to improve maintenance exist from single railway operators, only a concerted action at continental level can give a common standard vision covering all aspects in this field.