Not much time has passed since the European Commission published the 2014 edition of the Biennial Report that monitors the progress of the railway market. It is a very useful instrument to policies, but also to businessmen in this economic sector, in the activity of regulating and repositioning railway transport in a positive context for society. There are many aspects that need improvement as resulted from the pages of this document, but also aspects that appreciate the efforts of almost two decades of European politicians of reforming the railway sector.
The liberalisation or maintenance of a regulated market is still reason of dispute between European conservators and those open to innovation.
Vice President of the European Commission Siim Kallas joined this fight four years ago and leaves behind several important legal documents on the continuation of reform (such as the re-evaluation of the First Railway Package or the Interpretation Guide of Regulation 1370/2007), but also a determination around the future Fourth Railway Package where the component regarding the governance of railway undertakings and the liberalisation of the freight transport sector has faced the most bitter oppositions.
It is interesting to keep in mind from the Report that the liberalisation of the freight transport sector had a positive impact in the market and permitted the adjustment of offers and prices, so that customers could be attracted to this transport mode.
Next to other European countries where freight volumes have increased since the beginning of the economic crisis, there is also Romania, a country generally characterised by a reduced quality infrastructure, because of the lack of investments and maintenance, as well as of a regulating framework which favours the modal shift to road against rail.
The Report points out, at page 17, that “although the economic crisis has lasted longer in Romania than in Northern Europe, starting with 2007, railway freight transport has increased due to very performing non-affiliated freight transport operators”, which includes this East-European country on the list alongside Denmark, Austria and Great Britain.
To the opposite pole, we see how the excess of regulation and reform in the passenger transport sector makes the same country rank last regarding the performance of the sector
Tributary to discretionary decisions regarding the level of investments, the volume and frequency of trains, categories of citizens benefiting from different travel rights etc., the Romanian passenger market has known a continuous blow back, while countries such as Great Britain, where the market is fully liberalised, or Germany, where the number of tendered public services obligations is increasing, experience a healthy ascending trend.
In the near future, the European Commission and Member States will have to analyse the result of this Report and to identify measures to implement the European objectives of freight and passenger shift to railways and naval transport to ensure an environment protection balance.
by Ştefan Roşeanu
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