Brussels, 29/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - Although the end of his mandate as European Commissioner for Transport is drawing near, Siim Kallas is keeping up the pressure on development in the railway sector. At the European Railway Awards ceremony, organised by the Community of European Railways (CER) and the European Railway Industry (UNIFE) on Tuesday 28 January, the commissioner stated that Europe still has an inadequate legal environment for rail, “that is not suited for coping with all the challenges”. Although he acknowledged that good progress had been made with the technical pillar in the fourth railway package that was currently kick-starting railway reform, he regretted that “the negotiations are continuing and I don't expect them to be easy. We will clearly face conservatism in the discussions on market opening, for example”. He indicated that he was counting on CER and UNIFE members to complete this reform process. He was pleased that the Shift2Rail public-private partnership, which is expected to be adopted this week, will inject €1 billion in to research and innovation on the railways.
Kallas presented European Railway Awards to the former European commissioner for transport (2004-2008), Jacques Barrot, for his political contribution to the rail industry and to Giorgio Diana, a researcher and lecturer in mechanical engineering at the Politecnico di Milano, for his technical achievements. (MD/transl.fl)