The single European railway area has been submitted to Ministers debate

The month of July was marked by a new meeting of Council ministers for Transport, Telecommunication and Energy, during which the establishment of a single European railway area has been discussed. In the Ministers’ meeting, part of the member states have agreed on the compromise proposal subject to several amendments, but other states did not agree, presenting the challenges faced at national level. For the establishment of new common points for all Member States, the following debate on the agenda will be held during August 30-31, 2011 and the final agreement could be reached at the beginning of next year.

Aqualified majority of the Member States has accepted the compromise proposal presented by the Presidency, subject to several amendments including solutions related to the key issue of the rules on the access by railway undertakings to service facilities and the services supplied in these facilities.
The main amendment introduced during the meeting concerns the rules on charges for use of infrastructure and services. The infrastructure manager will have the possibility to gradually adapt to the methodology for calculating direct costs during a period of five years after the deadline for the transposition of the directive in national law. This provision responds to fears of some member states that insufficient cost recovery might lead to the need for the state to strongly subsidise infrastructure managers or operators.
One of the reasons for which the other delegations did not agree to this compromise was the requirement of independence in organisational and decision-making terms. Furthermore, one country considers the rules on market liberalisation inappropriate for its small railway network. Another member state still has concerns that due to its specific conditions, the charging principles will not allow sufficient cost recovery by the infrastructure manager.
„The new rules aim to fill gaps in existing legislation which allows the discrimination against the newly arrived. They will ensure that the opportunities to compete exist not only at level of the legislation, but also in practice. We hope that, together with the Ministers and the European Parliament, we reach a final agreement at the beginning of next year”, declared the European Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas.
The recast is designed to enhance competition between railway undertakings through increased transparency as regards rail market access conditions and better access for operators to rail-related services such as railway stations, freight terminals and maintenance facilities. Financing of rail infrastructure will be improved by longer-term planning, offering more certainty to investors, and by adapting charging rules so as to give incentives to investors to modernise infrastructure.

[ by Pamela Luică]
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