The Advanced group is way ahead of the second On Schedule group. The difference between the last country in the top group (Austria, 806 points) and the leading country in the second group (Belgium, 753 points) amounts to a total of 53 points. The second, and by far the largest group, the On Schedule group, consists of the follow-ing 15 countries: Belgium, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Norway, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Slovenia, Hungary and France. These countries scored between 600 and 799 points in the index calculation. The third group, the Delayed group, includes Latvia, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Spain and Ireland. Compared with 2007, Ireland improved considerably in terms of the number of points achieved, but still has the worst ranking overall. A noticeable feature is that there are no external RUs active in any of the countries in the bottom group.
A direct comparison of the LIB Indices for rail freight and rail passenger transport shows quite clearly that all the countries examined have seen much greater progress in rail freight transport than in rail passenger transport. Only the six leading countries in the Advanced group show approximately the same high level in both rail passenger and rail freight transport. This means that the top countries in the LIB Index for rail passenger transport are also the best countries in the LIB Index overall.
The following graphic provides an overview of the countries in which purely commercial rail passenger services are possible, are already provided actively or where this market is closed to external RUs.
A clear distinction is evident for most Eastern European countries where, according to the law, the market is open to purely commercial rail passenger services, but external RUs are not yet active in this segment due to its lack of attractiveness.
*The LEX Index is virtually a critical stocktaking of the actual situation to verify the suitability of the provisions of the individual national laws that are intended to achieve market opening. The LEX Index accounts for 20 per cent of the LIB Index assessment.
A significant improvement in the LEX Index of more than 100 points was achieved by Ireland, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark and Sweden. These countries improved in terms of rail regulation in the country, market access or the organisational structures of the incumbent. Great Britain (980 points) has the best legal requirements for opening the rail market. Second place in the LEX Index is now occupied by Sweden, fol-lowed by Germany, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands. These are the same six countries included in the top group of the LIB Index. They feature special regulatory bodies with wide-ranging powers and comprehensive market access regulation.
A new aspect in the present LIB Index is the examination of the use of transparency provisions in procurement law in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007. Of the 27 countries included in the survey, 15 specific measures designed to make this regulation effective have been implemented to date.
The average infrastructure charge for a specimen train operating rail passenger services varies considerably in the various countries: on long-distance rail passenger services, the lowest charges are reported in Bulgaria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Greece and Norway and vary between one and two euros. The highest charges at over five euros per train path kilometre on long-distance services are levied in France, Great Britain, Latvia and Germany. On local transport services, Great Britain, Italy and Latvia are countries in which over 4.50 euros per train path kilometre are the highest charges levied for using the rail infrastructure.
by Pamela Luică
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