Railway passenger transport, next to local and regional public transport on the European continent, is the perfect expression of the intrusion of politics in the economic and social life of an activity field. Almost with no exception, the railway sector is governed by the principle of compensations/subsidies as economic operators launch massive lobby campaigns to convince the authorities to increase the level of granted funds. As in the European Union the autumn will mark the resumption of talks around the Fourth Railway Package, the method of accessing public funds is one of the key elements of the fight for and against the amendments to Regulation 1370/2007.
Hiding behind the curtain of “public needs”, calling out loud the intention of providing mobility to passengers, traditional railway operators seek new and new arguments to postpone the market opening and to organize tenders for the attribution of mandatory public service obligations.
The big problem of the operators: the free market access of investors. One of the excessive concerns of traditional operators is to maintain to status quo in the attribution of routes and in evaluating necessary compensations. The introduction of new services, based on the principle of free market access is seen as a threat to the railway fundament itself and to the provision of passenger mobility. To protect their current modus vivendi without being too concerned about identifying solutions that would optimise their activity, the employees of the large operators are presenting to the society the fright of destroying quality and safety as new operators are preparing to be granted free market access. But if we take a look at the situation in the aviation industry, we see that technologies do advance in an area with free competition and the level of services becomes the “gauge” of the entire railway passenger transport industry, while passengers benefit from the constant extension of provided routes.
The second problem: the introduction of the mandatory tendering of public services obligations. The current overlap between the role of public authority and economic player leads to the adoption of protective measures with long-term results in weakening the capacity of accurately evaluating the necessary of services and their fair price and gradually lessening the strength of economic operators and wearing down the quality of services.
Already some West-European politicians are open in criticising the system of railway market liberalisation while nostalgically evoking the need of nationalisation or integration into a gigantic company. Based on these facts, the autumn of 2013 will probably be crucial in the progress of the discussions on the Fourth Railway Package, as there are many blocking attempts.
We have to notice that in the railway sector as well the great initiatives of setting up alternative operators have been made around innovating services, even with high-speed trains. At the same time, there are European countries which invoke the lack of public funds and reduce constantly and in disguise the level of mandatory public services thus condemning European citizens to immobility.
by Ştefan Roşeanu
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