On Tuesday 2 December, the European Commission announced its decision to take Germany to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) for the exclusion of its regional rail networks from EU safety and interoperability requirements.
The Commission considered that the non-implementation of the Directives on safety on the Community’s railways (2004/49/EC) and on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community (2008/57/EC) - which define these requirements - represents an obstacle to the completion of the single railway area.
These requirements, the Commission added in a statement, are not met by about 16% of the German rail network.
Both directives provide for EU Member States to exclude certain infrastructure from the scope of the texts. However, the Commission has clarified that these exemptions cannot - contrary to the German national legislation - apply to regional rail networks.
Exchanges on the subject have been taking place between the Commission and Germany since 2016. However, the explanations provided by Berlin were not considered convincing by the Commission, which considered that the arguments put forward were not sufficient. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)