Brussels, 25/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) and the European (Rail) Infrastructure Managers (EIM) have given their reaction to the resolve shown by Siim Kallas to proceed to unbundling the financial, commercial or legal links that persist between rail infrastructure managers and rail service operators. Kallas confirmed that intention on Monday 24 September during the European Commission's conference on railway reform (see EUROPE 10695). The presidents of ERFA and EIM, who also took the floor at the conference, commented on the European transport commissioner's determination to separate the models of organisation, which will be one of the pillars of the 4th railway package currently being prepared for the end of this year.
ERFA President François Coart said that “a clear separation between infrastructure managers and rail undertakings is the simplest, easiest and cheapest model to support the modal shift to rail”. He was sceptical about the fact that attempts at reintegration may generate synergies and cost saving “because these are two different jobs requesting totally different safety qualifications”. Although he expects the 4th railway package to facilitate the task of the freight operators, which are faced with the crisis, barriers and discrimination, he nonetheless believes that there must not be deregulation at any price, saying “there cannot be a fair deregulation without safety and social improvements”.
Speaking in more veiled terms, Hubert du Mesnil, EIM President, also called for separation, recommending the elimination of conflicts of interest that pepper the functions of the infrastructure. He was adamant that the infrastructure manager should have performance levers which, he summarised, is not the case in all member states today, while at the same time having control of supply and cost, and especially being in full control of investment, pricing and capacity allocation functions. De Mesnil also shares the opinion expressed by Commissioner Kallas on keeping the accounts of the different entities separate, saying that there cannot be performance without transparency - transparency of flows, procedures and costs. The conference, entitled “The Last Mile towards the 4th Railway Package”, was also the last opportunity for the Commission to know how the sector feels. There is no doubt that the above comments do support his approach, whereas a recent opinion from the advocate general of the Court of Justice of the EU ruled in favour of the German integrated model. (MD/transl.jl)