Brussels, 30/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 30 June, European Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani suggested a raft of measures to increase transport safety in Europe and throughout the world. These proposals come after two major accidents in the night of Monday 29 to Tuesday 30 June: in Italy, rail wagons transporting liquefied gas exploded and, off the Comoros islands, an Airbus belonging to the Yemeni airline Yemenia crashed. Air transport. Tajani announced that he would suggest to the head of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that a worldwide blacklist of companies that are banned from flying should be drafted. “I believe that there is a need for a worldwide blacklist, similar to the one in Europe. … But this is not a decision that the EU can take. It is up to the ICAO,” he said. He also said that European Commission experts would be in contact with the Yemeni airline to “ask what happened and check the level of security”. Rail transport. Tajani said he thought that the rules on checking safety would have to be reviewed, particularly with regard to wagons. “I am considering suggesting … that the safety check system should be changed, to a system linked to the number of kilometres” the wagon has travelled, rather than the current time-based system, which provides for checks every six years, the commissioner said. A meeting with the European Railways Agency and the European Aviation Safety Agency is scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon. Road safety. The commissioner announced an improvement in the situation on Europe's roads where there has been the first “significant fall” in the number of road victims. He acknowledged, however, that the EU was unlikely to meet its target of reducing the number of people killed on the roads by half by 2010 (compared with 2001). He said that those most at risk were now young people aged between 18 and 25, people over 65, pedestrians and motorcyclists. (A.By./transl.rt)