Brussels, 12/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 11 September, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) welcomed the decision to step back from plans to propose legislation on rail freight quality (see EUROPE 9737). “We believe that the quality of rail freight services is best regulated by the market itself rather than by legislation imposing legally binding penalties in case of non-compliance with quality requirements,” said Johannes Ludewig, CER Executive Director, in a press release. CER says that, since 2002, rail freight has seen positive development in terms both of growth (its share of land transport has increased from 16.5 per cent to 17.3 per cent) and quality of service (less than 10% of trains arriving late), thus making the regulation unnecessary. The regulation, proposed in 2004, was to complement three other proposals in the third railway package, but met with opposition in the European Parliament and the Council. (A.By./transl.rt)