Brussels, 09/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - During its plenary in Strasbourg, the EP should approve in second reading the Directive on the technical harmonisation of European railways, without modifying the Council's common position from last October. The rapporteur, Giles Savary (Socialist French) in fact recommends to the plenary to approve the common position, since 33 of the 45 amendments adopted by the EP in first reading have been fully included by the Council. This Directive on "the interoperability of the conventional transeuropean railway system" completes the "railways package" which liberalises rail freight in Europe as of 2003, adopted by the Parliament during its last session. On the model of the similar Directive enforced for high speed trains, the future Directive foresees the adoption of common standards for freight materials and control systems that will be placed into service in the future. The aim is to reduce problems due to the circulation of linked trains, for example, the differences in wagon heights, signalling systems or electrical current. At the same time, the Directive will allow for the establishment of a European market for railway material.
The EP amendments taken on by the Council cover, among others, the taking into account of social standard (professional qualifications, hygiene conditions and work safety) and the opinion of the users in the drafting process. The Council took on among others, in its broad guidelines, the three year work programme set by the MEPs, and which places emphasis on: control-command systems and signalling, the use of freight telematics, traffic management (including the qualifications of the personnel for the cross border services), the freight wagons (including the noise pollution), the rolling stock for international use.