At a conference on the subject on Tuesday 23 January, Europe's rail industry leaders said that the recent initiative on the use of railway infrastructure capacity (see EUROPE 13296/12) should take account of the development of this infrastructure.
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) has welcomed this proposed regulation. Not only will it ensure an essential modal shift, but it will also enable the EU to achieve the objectives of the ‘Green Deal’. They did, however, list certain requirements that the proposal must cover.
Firstly, they want a European platform of railway undertakings to be developed and involved in the allocation process and in the development of European frameworks. This would enable effective dialogue with infrastructure managers.
Secondly, they claim that sufficient funding must be allocated for the full implementation of the Timetabling Capacity Redesign for Smart Capacity Management and Digital Capacity Management. They also state that the role of network coordinator should be taken on by the sector itself, as it has knowledge of digital processes and tools.
Finally, while the industry welcomes the introduction of socio-economic and environmental criteria applied in cases of limited infrastructure capacity, it claims it is essential that further work is undertaken to define the criteria, how they are applied and how often they are updated. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)