The European Network of Infrastructure Managers was formally launched at InnoTrans on September 23 under Capacity Regulation 2026/1184, which recently entered into force. ENIM will "co-ordinate the planning, management, and optimal use of rail infrastructure capacity, enabling reliable cross-border rail services and the effective implementation of the Capacity Regulation," the new organisation said in a launch statement.

The body brings together EU member states' infrastructure managers and capacity allocation bodies. It effectively replaces the Platform of Rail Infrastructure Managers in Europe (PRIME), which DG Move set up in 2013 to deliver the SERA Directive's objectives. ENIM takes PRIME's mandate and widens it, adding disruption response, performance review and digitalisation alongside core capacity work.

What will ENIM do?

ENIM will "develop common European frameworks and digital solutions, support co-ordination among IMs, and engage with stakeholders and regulatory bodies on capacity management, cross-border traffic, disruption and crisis management, performance review and digitalisation," the organisation stated at InnoTrans.

Under the regulation, ENIM will produce European Frameworks for capacity management, traffic management and performance monitoring. It will work closely with RailNetEurope, which has driven revisions to the annual timetable planning process across the continent. RNE has been appointed as "Network Co-ordinator" to support framework development and implementation, and will serve as the ENIM Secretariat. The appointment puts RNE at the centre of cross-border timetable coordination and gives it a direct role in shaping the frameworks ENIM will publish.

Who sits on the body?

Article 58 of the Regulation defines ENIM's voting membership as the IMs responsible for lines forming part of the core and extended core TEN-T network. IMs from EFTA states and Southeast European Parties to the Transport Community Treaty may join, subject to confirmation by the Commission. Allocation bodies and charging bodies performing essential functions may also participate. The Commission itself holds non-voting member status and will observe but not vote.

Other organisations with infrastructure responsibilities may attend as observers without voting rights, leaving the decision-making core to operators of the core and extended core networks and to the relevant allocation and charging bodies.

ÖBB-Infrastruktur board member Johann Pluy has been elected ENIM Chairman for an initial two-year term. PKP PLK Chairman Piotr Wyborski will serve as Vice-Chair, placing Austria and Poland at the head of the new body's leadership for the start-up phase.

How will ENIM organise its work?

The body will run through a series of working groups overseen by a Co-ordination Group. The Co-ordination Group prepares plenary decisions at infrastructure-manager level and manages tasks previously handled by the PRIME Transition Task Force. Other PRIME sub-groups should continue as ENIM working groups within the overall work programme, preserving continuity on the capacity, traffic and performance files that PRIME had already opened. The structure mirrors PRIME's working-group model but folds it into a regulation-backed body with formal tasks assigned by the Capacity Regulation.

What counterpart will operators get?

The Capacity Regulation also provides for a European Railway Platform, bringing together railway undertakings, terminal operators and other operational stakeholders. It will act as a "consultative counterpart" to the infrastructure body, giving operators and terminals a structured channel into ENIM's framework work and a formal voice in cross-border planning.

The launch of ENIM completes the institutional layer set out in Regulation 2026/1184, with the European Railway Platform now expected to follow as the operator-side counterpart in the coming months.