The INFRAGUIDER Coordinated Action project's primary objective was to define the guidelines for developing an effective European method/tool for the environmental impact evaluation of the railway infrastructure (existing and new). Despite the fact that a similar process has already been provided for the rolling stock, the railway infrastructure is a more complex system where a silent revolution has been performed in order to:

• face high performances of trains (high speed trains);
• attract freight transport;
• reduce maintenance and operational costs, and;
• comply with the local, regional regulation in terms of environmental impact.

To avoid that, this revolution will create a great unbalance among regions. To support the know-how and best practices transfer, it is important to assess by a consensus process at European level the following items:

• the current state of environmental performance within the railway sector, and to highlight the criticalities to become effective and practical for the internal Environmental Management system implemented by railway companies and suppliers;
• the infrastructure functional subsystems and interfaces from the environment point of view;
• balance of goods in terms of material flow, environmental performance indicators EPIs and relevant ranking.