The European Railway Award was presented by Mr Philippe Citroën, director general of the European Rail Industry Association (Unife), and Mr Libor Lochman, executive director of the Community European Railways and Infrastructure Managers (CER). The award was accompanied by a donation of €10,000, which Trautmann decided to give to the European Disability Forum, an NGO founded in 1996 that defends the interests of 80 million Europeans with disabilities. Support for rail As mayor of Strasbourg, Trautmann initiated the creation of the Strasbourg light rail network, which opened in November 1994, and advocated the construction of a high-speed line between Strasbourg and Paris. As a member and a vice-president of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy from 2004 until 2014, Trautmann supported policies to foster the growth of Europe’s rail supply industry. Since October 2014, in her current position as European coordinator for the North Sea-Baltic corridor, which forms part of the European Union’s TEN-T network, Trautmann has played a leading role in forging an agreement between the European Commission and five EU member states to implement the Rail Baltica project. “Ms Trautmann has shown that policy makers can clearly make a difference, with dedicated actions based upon an understanding of the versatile nature of rail transport, and thereby the different settings, challenges and needs facing urban rail services, long-distance passenger services - be it high speed or conventional trains - and last but not least the rail freight business,” says Mr Crister Fritzson, CER chair, CEO of SJ, and president of the Association of Swedish Train Operating Companies (Astoc).
