Four years after the publication of the latest Transport White Paper, the rail sector confirms its support for the ambitious environmental and modal shift targets set by the European Commission in 2011 and calls on policy makers to take further steps to reach them. This was the main message put forward by CER and UNIFE at a Rail Forum Europe meeting held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 11 March, in the context of the ongoing stocktaking review of the 2011 Transport White Paper that was recently launched by the European Commission.
Jocelyn Fajardo, member of the cabinet of Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, set the scene with an overview of the stocktaking review of the Transport White Paper that should be completed by early 2016 at the latest. The Commission is considering two possible options concerning the scope of the exercise: either a light review based on the political agenda of the new Commission or a full mid-term review. He mentioned a number of achievements of the rail sector in the past four years, such as the recast of the First Railway Package, progress on rail freight corridors, the new TEN-T guidelines and its related financial instrument, the Connecting Europe Facility, as well as the adoption of the Shift2Rail regulation. Nevertheless, the rail sector has still many challenges ahead, in particular the adoption and implementation of the Fourth Railway Package and further ERTMS deployment. He concluded by highlighting some of the political priorities of Commissioner Bulc: “Single market, social agenda, sustainability, smart transport and services-oriented transport will be the guiding principles of the stocktaking review of the Transport White Paper”.
Libor Lochman, Executive Director of CER, highlighted that efforts are needed in order to decarbonise transport by further reducing transport’s consumption of fossil fuels. In this respect, pricing and regulation policies should aim to balance the current uneven situation between rail and other transport modes, notably road. Moreover, he called on the European Institutions to ensure solid, sufficient, and predictable funding for rail infrastructure and stabilise the current legislative framework to boost modal shift. “The rail sector loves the 2011 Transport White Paper and looks forward to its full implementation. In order to reduce transport emissions, rail is an essential part of the solution: rail is the least CO2 intensive transport mode and has ambitious voluntary targets” he concluded.
Philippe Citroën, Director General of UNIFE stressed the need for investments in sustainable transport as a priority through a more prominent role for rail in upcoming job-creating programmes, such as the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). In order to make the rail sector even more attractive, he urged the EU institutions to quickly adopt the Technical Pillar of the Fourth Railway Package and start the R&D activities of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking. Finally, he emphasised the importance of the international dimension of the rail supply market and called for a comprehensive EU strategy to tackle the lack of level playing field in public procurement. “The objective of the mid-term review should not be to re-discuss the targets set in 2011, but to increase and streamline our efforts to meet them. Upcoming investments, R&D initiatives as well as trade negotiations should take into account the White Paper objectives and, in particular, rail’s environmental and social credentials” he stated.
Gesine Meissner, RFE Vice-President and Member of the European Parliament’s TRAN Committee agreed that rail should play a central role in future transport policy and, in this respect, warned against possible future budget cuts: “The Juncker plan is very important, however the money to finance it should not be taken from the transport sector. The priorities of the TEN-T programme and the CEF budget should be maintained” she said.
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