The liberalisation of the European railway transport markets has been on the agenda of political men and of the business sector in the past 2 decades. First of all, the accent fell on the aspects concerning railway infrastructure and freight transport, followed by the passenger transport regulation. The First Railway Package focuses on improving legislation, while the Second Railway Package stresses the problems related to safety and interoperability. The latest regulation, the Third Railway Package includes Directive 58/2007/EC which aims at opening up railway markets for international passenger transport services and which came into force on January 1, 2010.
In the following period, European Union’s main objective in railway transport is the liberalisation of railway passenger transport, stipulated in the Third Railway Package. Thus, the implementation of the liberalisation process is very important to the EU, as it contributes to better quality and more railway services for the EU citizens.
The legislative package also includes directives and regulations on the certification of train staff and the regulation on the rights and obligations of train passengers. The liberalisation of the international railway transport market is under implementation and it should be applied in all concerned countries by 2012. This topic will be widely debated during the “Railway Days” Railway Summit in the Wider Black Sea Area (WBSA), held by Club Feroviar and the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF) during October 5-6, 2010 in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
The liberalisation of railway passenger transport generates an increase in competitiveness which, in turn, stimulates business development. This will definitely bring benefits to the whole railway sector, from the passenger using this means of transport, to the rolling stock manufacturers, who will have to come up with innovative and highly qualitative products to become known on the market.
To implement this measure, it is necessary to ensure the infrastructure access and apply interoperability standards and safety norms. A vital element in the appropriate implementation of Directive 58/2007/EC consists in the establishment of the regulatory body which has to be independent of railway operators, the infrastructure manager or the responsible authority.
A series of conditions and measures is necessary in the implementation process and these measures refer to loyal competition, the internalisation of external costs, political will and, of course, railway infrastructure financing, without which it is impossible to provide a safe and efficient transport service. However, all these cannot be applied but for an adequate correspondence into national legislations that need to be adapted to the needs of every country. The railway market will be opened to competition in two phases. First of all, the adoption of the Third Railway Package will allow international competition. This will include cabotage rights, meaning the possibility to board and unboard passengers in any point (station) of the international journey, including in the second station of the same country.
Also, if railway transport liberalisation is to the benefit of the railway user, it must be accompanied by guarantees on safety, security and recognizing the passengers’ rights which must be unitary across the entire European Union. The Third Railway Package reco-mmends a minimum of standards on the passengers’ rights. Therefore, new operators could only access the market following strict requirements on the transport access of people with low mobility, the regulation of the passengers’ rights establishing clear standards in this matter.
Nonetheless, we cannot talk about railway transport liberalisation in the absence of infrastructure which is the key element for efficient and quality transport services, the allocation of funds for infrastructure upgrading and extension playing a very important part. A significant role is also that of network capacity plans, network construction and maintenance, investment decisions, as well as skilled infrastructure access management.
Opening railway markets has strategic importance for the WBSA and the EU
The Wider Black Sea Area (WBSA) has strategic importance to the European Union, every member state being a potential strategic partner, especially in transportation since this area connects Europe and Asia. Efficient transport between large regions generates global economic growths and stronger relationships between interested countries. Granting special interest to the cooperation with Asia, Europe elaborates strategies and signs transport agreements since the common wish of all countries is a unitary, interoperable and efficient network. While it allocates large funds to Asia countries through its banking institutions, the European Union tries to gradually impose its own conditions and regulations to impose the adoption of the European legislation. Acknowledging the importance of the railway market liberalisation, the WBSA countries try to apply this process by implementing new reforms in the national railway system. The liberalisation of the railway transport has a great impact in this area, since the infrastructure needs massive investments for a quality railway service, the Asian network still needs modernisation, rehabilitation and extension works to level the European network and interoperability also plays its part.
In this context, the railway business environment plays a very significant part by supplying services and products and imposing on the international markets, especially by concluding new partnerships.
The significance of the entire railway transport liberalisation process to the WBSA countries and the advantages brought to afferent sectors by this transport evolution will be presented, analysed and debated on by leaders of the international institutions, representatives of the WBSA business environment and competent authorities during the WBSA Railway Summit.
by Pamela Luică
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