At the middle of October, several MEPs met to debate on the amendments brought to the six legislative proposals which compose the Fourth Railway Package. The main objective of the Fourth Railway Package consists in improving the quality and efficiency of railway transport services by eliminating the obstacles that still linger (unsolved by the three previous packages), thus encouraging railway performance and, consequently, competitiveness and economic growth. These hindrances can be grouped into four categories, technical, administrative, institutional and legal barriers.
A t the end of January, the European Commission approved the six proposals which compose the Fourth Railway Package; the initiative was appreciated by part of the railway environment, while others declared themselves unsatisfied with the adoption of provisions of the new legislative proposal.
The Commission seeks to reduce the administrative costs of railway undertakings and to facilitate the access to market of new operators. According to the new proposals, the European Railway Agency will become a one stop shop for the whole EU that will release authorizations for placing in service of vehicles and safety certificates for operators. At the moment, railway authorizations and safety certificates are issued by each member state.
The proposed measures would permit a 20% reduction of the time necessary to a new railway undertaking to enter the market and a 20% reduction of cost and of the time it takes to issue a rolling stock license. Overall, the companies would save EUR 500 Million by 2025, states the recitals submitted by the European Commission.
To encourage innovation, efficiency and a better quality-price report, the Commission proposes the opening of domestic railway passenger transport markets to new participants and new services as of December 2019.
“Preparing railway undertakings for competitive tendering for public service contracts requires some extra time to allow effective and sustainable internal restructuring of companies to which such contracts were directly awarded in the past. They should therefore already take action to phase-in this tendering procedure, although it is not until 2029 (and not 2019 as provided by the original text introduced by the European Commission, in January, when the Fourth Railway Package was adopted) that all public service contracts in the field of public rail passenger transport have to be awarded in accordance with the procurement procedures laid down in this Regulation”, stipulate the proposals submitted by members of the TRAN Committee in July. “The main causes of the insufficient modal share of the railways in Europe include a disloyal competition with the other transport modes, the insufficient political will to develop railway transport and little investments in railway networks”, states one of the amendments introduced by Rapporteur Said El Khadraoui.
“The development of a Single European Railway Area depends a lot on the efficient and full application of the legislation adopted in the set deadlines by all member states. Considering the insufficiency of this specific field, member states should make sure that they are very careful in implementing the European legislation”, shows another amendment proposed in last September.
“We want the operators to be able to run trains across the continent without technical or administrative barriers which undermine the internal market.” To remove them, “we need an increased role for the European Railway Agency”, said Transport and Tourism Committee Chair Brian Simpson.
No doubt that we will witness many debates either in favour or against the Fourth Railway Package in the form proposed by the Commission, as before being adopted, the Commission’s proposals have to be approved by the European Parliament and by the governments of member states.
Until then, the vote of the TRAN Committee on the six legislative proposals which compose the Fourth Railway Package is expected on 26 November and the vote in the plenum of the European Parliament is expected in January 2014.
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