The EU's transport commissioner plans to present, next summer, an action plan for a rail network "giving priority to freight". Jacques Barrot announced his intentions at a conference sponsored by the Community of European Railways (CER), held on 30 January in Brussels. The idea is not new - his predecessor, Loyola de Palacio, had already suggested it - but it now seems to be closer to being put into practice. The same timing - "before the summer" - was mentioned by Barrot at a meeting with the press a few weeks ago.
The action plan, matched with a calendar, "will promote a network that in the longer term will result in the development of a dedicated freight network". It will focus on the medium term, namely 2010 to 2015, in the course of which the major corridors should be equipped in large measure with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). In his remarks to conference participants, Jacques Barrot hinted that he wanted to give special attention to more closely coordinated management of rail corridors, particularly the operational aspects of such management and the investments needed. "There is a need for a coordinated and simultaneous allocation of train paths for the entire corridor, rather than country by country, and for harmonised tariffs," he said. New rail companies - which still complain often about the influence of the historic operators in certain countries - will be glad to hear that the objective of the action plan is also to ensure transparent and non-discriminatory conditions for access to terminals, railroad yards and other services related to freight train activities. An inventory of the priority investments needed to clear up bottlenecks and facilitate the crossing of borders is planned.
Jacques Barrot's conference remarks also gave him an opportunity to threaten using the stick against the states where market opening is still simply theoretical at this point. That state of affairs had already been criticised in the Commission's report on implementation of the First Rail Package, released last May (see Europolitics 3076): "players complain that the market is not working well and that European directives are being implemented in a way that does not correspond to the letter or the spirit of the law". Monitoring of implementation of directives is thus reiterated as one of the priorities for 2007, primarily for procedures for allocating infrastructure capacities and setting access fees, the independence and means of action of regulatory authorities, and procedures for issuing equipment safety certificates. The infringement procedure will be used as needed.
The action plan, matched with a calendar, "will promote a network that in the longer term will result in the development of a dedicated freight network". It will focus on the medium term, namely 2010 to 2015, in the course of which the major corridors should be equipped in large measure with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). In his remarks to conference participants, Jacques Barrot hinted that he wanted to give special attention to more closely coordinated management of rail corridors, particularly the operational aspects of such management and the investments needed. "There is a need for a coordinated and simultaneous allocation of train paths for the entire corridor, rather than country by country, and for harmonised tariffs," he said. New rail companies - which still complain often about the influence of the historic operators in certain countries - will be glad to hear that the objective of the action plan is also to ensure transparent and non-discriminatory conditions for access to terminals, railroad yards and other services related to freight train activities. An inventory of the priority investments needed to clear up bottlenecks and facilitate the crossing of borders is planned.
Jacques Barrot's conference remarks also gave him an opportunity to threaten using the stick against the states where market opening is still simply theoretical at this point. That state of affairs had already been criticised in the Commission's report on implementation of the First Rail Package, released last May (see Europolitics 3076): "players complain that the market is not working well and that European directives are being implemented in a way that does not correspond to the letter or the spirit of the law". Monitoring of implementation of directives is thus reiterated as one of the priorities for 2007, primarily for procedures for allocating infrastructure capacities and setting access fees, the independence and means of action of regulatory authorities, and procedures for issuing equipment safety certificates. The infringement procedure will be used as needed.