“We have received the report of the Romanian Ministry of Transport on the General Transport Master Plan and its vote in the Romanian Parliament until this summer is a good thing. Railway transport is the solution for reducing pollutant emissions in the European Union. Compared to the 1990s, the industry has reduced pollutant emissions by 32%, but the transport sector has seen emissions grow by 22% and it is the only sector where emissions have increased. We have to reduce this tendency”, declared Michael Cramer, Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) of the European Parliament during his official visit in Bucharest.
“The General Transport Master Plan, a priority in this period, was discussed during this meeting. We presented to the European Parliament representatives the stage of this project. We also presented the ongoing projects, as well as the projects we want to initiate in the future. The General Transport Master Plan has been reviewed, certain aspects have been reviewed. Projects will remain in this form, there will not be other projects to add or remove, but there are no major amendments”, Romanian Transport Minister Dan Costescu said.
“It is necessary to encourage the shift from road to rail if we want to have a less polluting transport and efficient mobility. This is the direction we follow in all the commissions and committees of the European Parliament”, added Michael Cramer.
“Competition between transport modes is useful, but in order to be able to talk about fair competition, we have to talk about fair taxes. In Europe, tolls are applied for 0.9% of the road transport network, while the railway network is 100% charged. We definitely want fair competition, but track access charges and road tolls are to be decided by each and every member state”, added the Chairman of the TRAN Committee.
”Romania has a chance to avoid excessive pollution by transferring large volumes of freight from road to rail. It is a solution not only for protecting the environment but also for economic development. 10% of the freight volume transferred to rail would mean a saving of 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Ministry of Transport needs 2% for infrastructure management and the modal shift of freight towards rail would get exactly these funds, which currently prevents us to move from the restricted plan to the plan optimist within the General Transport Master Plan”, Minister Costescu added.
TRAN Committee delegation met with Transport Minister, Dan Costescu, the Minister of European Funds, Aura Răducu and these discussions were also attended by representatives of CFR SA, the national railway infrastructure manager.
On the agenda were included topics such as the General Transport Master Plan (GTMP), Core Trans-European transport (TEN-T) network corridors, the National Railway Plan, Operational Programme Large Infrastructure (POIM) and the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.
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