Night Trains & Cross-Border Rail: Bridging Territories
Réseau #enTrain Europe and Back-on-Track Belgium invites you to a full day of discussions, exchanges and advocacy on night trains and cross-border rail in Europe. Activists, experts, elected officials and representatives from across Europe will come together to work towards better, more connected rail across borders, by day and by night.
Practical information
Thursday 3 December 2026, 09:00 – 17:00
Be Central, Brussels-Central Station
Languages: English and French
🍽 Lunch provided
🎟 Free of charge, registration required: Register here
Program
09:00 Welcome & registration
- 09:30–09:40 Welcome address
Jean-Luc Crucke, Belgian Federal Minister for Mobility, Climate and Ecological Transition - 09:40–09:50 Introduction
Lena Schilling, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA, Austria) - 09:50–10:00 Presentation: The potential of night trains in Europe
Prof. Simon Blainey, University of Birmingham, Center for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) - 10:00–11:00 Panel: Night Trains
Alexis Chailloux, Head of Transport, Climate Action Network
Stéphane Coppey, President, Destination Night Train
Poul Kattler, Back-on-Track Europe
János Földiák, Head of Service Development, MÁV Passenger Transport (Hungary) - 11:00–12:00 Panel: Passenger Package
Kai Tegethoff, MEP (Greens/EFA, Germany), rapporteur on the Rail Ticketing Regulation
Robin Loos, The European Consumer Organization (BEUC)
Georgia Whitaker, Rail Campaign Manager, Transport & Environment
Andrea Heigl, EU Affairs Manager, ÖBB-Holding (Austrian Federal Railways)
Delphine Gransart, Senior Researcher, European Passengers’ Federation (EPF) - 12:00–13:00 Lunch
- 13:00–13:15 Afternoon introduction
Karima Delli, former Chair of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee - 13:15–14:15 Cross-border panel 1: France–Italy
Moderator: Lorenzo Freire–Stella, researcher, CY Cergy Paris University
Catherine Rainaudo, Roya Expansion Nature association
Raffaele Viaggi, French–Italian border lead, Cross-Border Operational Mission (MOT)
Maxime Bernard, Coordinator, High Valleys Conference - 14:15–15:15 Cross-border panel 2: Spain–Portugal–France
Moderator: Sebastian Belz, Secretary General, EPTS Foundation
Acácio Pires, ZERO association, member of the Alianza Ibérica por el Ferrocarril
Juan Vila Morales, Deputy Assistant Director for Rail Transport Organization and Regulation, Spanish Ministry of Transport; member of Ferinter
Philippe Bairras, Postdoctoral Researcher, Logistics City Chair, Gustave Eiffel University - 15:15–15:45 Break
- 15:45–16:45 Cross-border cooperation that works
Moderator: Patricia Pérennes
Marlies Peeters, European Commission, DG REGIO, Border Focal Point & cross-border transport
Vilém Pařil, Masaryk University (Brno, Czechia): research on cross-border rail cooperation
Catherine Vanoosthuyse, President of the Civil Society Forum of the Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai
Manuel Dal Molin, CEO, Lémanis SA: presentation of the Léman Express (remote) - 16:45–17:00 Closing remarks
- Moderator of the day: Patricia Pérennes
Draft program, subject to change. Not all speakers are confirmed yet.