Five organisations representing the European railway sector sent a joint letter on Friday 27 March to the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, the Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, and the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira.
“The rail sector is suffering from the containment measures taken by Member States to fight the spread of the pandemic and from the consequent huge drop of the mobility demand”, deplore the signatory associations and trade unions.
Indeed, they note, passenger traffic “is almost at a standstill” now, both internationally and domestically, and the number of bookings is close to zero.
In particular, the signatories call on Member States to take measures to cover the losses of public service operators. They are calling for short-term liquidity to be guaranteed to keep businesses alive and secure jobs. They also encourage investment in rail projects.
Commissioner Vălean indicated on her Twitter account on Tuesday 31 March that she had spoken by telephone with representatives of the Community of European Railways (CER) and the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), two of the organisations behind the letter.
In particular, they called for essential passenger and freight services to be maintained, while protecting staff and passengers, and recalled the need for the implementation of ‘green lanes’ (see EUROPE 12452/14) in the rail sector, as well.
In their letter, the five organisations also stressed that they considered it essential that the rail sector be able to mobilise again quickly after the crisis and offer the same levels of service as before, “in order for the Green Deal to be a success”. “Even in these difficult times, it must not be forgotten that the EU plans to achieve a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030”, they conclude.
To read the letter: https://bit.ly/2R0zSGG (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)