This work is part of the project “Digitalisation of rail transport communication at border crossing between Italy and Slovenia - T4RAIL” within the Interreg nVI A Italia – Slovenia 2021–2027 program. This project aims to tackle the issues frequently observed within the cross-border region encompassing the Italy-Slovenia border. The project is particularly focused on the challenges arising from the absence of seamless integration between the regional and national transportation systems, resulting in inadequate infrastructure for facilitating cross-border mobility. This, in turn, leads to congestion, which is a major contributing factor to the overall challenges in this area. In this context, the objective of this work is to disseminate the initial results obtained through the organisation of a participatory event. This event involved the construction of a methodology through two focus groups. The purpose of the focus groups was to investigate the challenges and opportunities arising from technological improvements in cross-border rail transport. In the first focus group, the emphasis was placed on the pivotal operational, economic and environmental aspects. Conversely, the second focus group directed its attention towards the labour market and, consequently, to the territorial and social aspects.