Brussels, 02/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 1 October, in a stance on the European Commission communication on the sustainable future of transport (see EUROPE 9922), the association of European (Rail) Infrastructure Managers (EIM) called for effective opening of the rail market. According to the members of the association, which is made up of independent rail infrastructure managers, the existing barriers to market opening currently still prevent non-discriminatory access for new entrants, despite legislation in force. EIM calls for this matter to be settled as part of the review of the first rail package (EUROPE 7612), as well as by effective implementation of all three existing railway packages, if need be via infringement procedures.
According to EIM, despite adequate legislation, new entrants on the railway market still encounter operational difficulties due in particular to unfair pricing, restricted or no access to services, and the lack of information and transparency. In an assessment report on implementation of the second railway package that liberalises freight transport (EUROPE 9971), the Commission acknowledges the presence of continued discrimination in this sector. Nonetheless, rather than tackle the matter through recasting of the first railway package, which provides among other things for the separation of rail infrastructure managers, Commissioner Tajani's cabinet prefers to resort to action at the Court of Justice, which would give states brought into question more time and would make it possible to avoid blocking during codecision procedure. The Commission sent three letters of formal notice for failure to transpose directives of the first railway package to 24 member states in June 2008 but, since then and despite the announced despatch of a series of reasoned opinions in September, dialogue still continues on a bilateral base and in an informal manner between the Commission and the member states. At the same time, the draft recast package which, at this stage, remains blocked by the cabinet, also comprises consolidation of the three directives of the first package, measures allowing the five main problems to be identified in the Commission report of 3 May 2006 on implementation of the first package (access by new entrants, strengthened transparency, strengthened crossborder cooperation, measures ensuring better planning and facilitating investment in infrastructure, measures aimed at ensuring independence and authority of control bodies). Furthermore, EIM highlights the need to guarantee full independence between infrastructure and operators, mainly guaranteed by effective independence of managers from rail company infrastructure. It also calls for the role of regulatory bodies to be enhanced. According to EIM, the latter should be independent of infrastructure managers, railway companies and national ministries. As regulatory bodies, they should follow market developments and ensure non-discriminatory access not only to infrastructure, track allocation and fair pricing but also to rail related services. The association also calls for speedy adoption of the Eurovignette directive which allows a number of external costs (air pollution, noise pollution and congestion) to be introduced in the pricing for heavy vehicles. According to the managers' association, the directive should also include costs related to accidents as well as to greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) not included in the Commission's initial proposal. Revenue thus generated should, EIM says, be intended not only for the transport sector as the Commission advocates, but also be considered as a source of funding for new projects which promote cleaner transport. According to EIM, the internalisation of external costs (air and noise pollution, congestion, accidents, CO2 emissions) due to road transport combined with the increasingly effective rail sector, could entail a 30% rise in market shares for the latter in the long-distance goods transport market. According to a recent study commissioned by EIM, rail could handle the transport of about 60% of all goods transport transported overland on distances exceeding 700 km.
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) has criticised “European policy makers”, saying they have failed to deliver the political targets set out in the European Commission's Transport White Paper from 2001. It also deplores the fact that the revised Eurovignette directive was not adopted, as it does the lack of adequate infrastructure funding. According to the study commissioned by the CER and presented to the European Parliament on Thursday 1 October, during the last decade “achievements in rail transport policy have been largely restricted to intramodal competition”. At the same time, “progress in introducing fair intermodal competition and ensuring adequate investment in sustainable infrastructure and compensation for public service obligations has been limited”. Unlike the EIM, CER recognises that the three railway packages adopted since 2001 have allowed the rail sector to reorganise and to bring in strong competition on several railway markets, mainly on the “crucial north-south axis through the Alps”. (A.By./transl.jl)