The context for recalculating the track access charge varies a lot between member states and the charge should be taken into account only after reviewing several aspects, especially state infrastructure financing and compensation for meeting public service obligations (whose absence in some member states has a major effect on the financial situation of railway operators). This is the opinion of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) expressed in a position document.
“In a single European market, equal business conditions are necessary for all competitors. Currently, the railways in Eastern and Central Europe are not capable to compete with the new entrants because they lack investments. The Commission should be more careful with this aspect and force these countries to provide appropriate financing to national state-owned railway companies”, pointed out Johannes Ludewig, the Executive Director of CER.The association agrees with the fact that the lack of harmonisation troubles the competition between railway undertakings as it affects their capacity to compete outside the country. However, CER doubts that it will be possible to international harmonise the TAC through the proposed measure considering that different member states have different contributions for railway infrastructure.
Indeed, the absence of financial support from some member states will not only affect the TAC level in a year, but has a dynamic effect as the absence of investments implies an increase of operation costs in time. Briefly, without the harmonisation of the state financial support, it will be impossible to have a major impact in the harmonisation of the TAC.
Diversity is what currently prevents the development of international services because the different parameters are used to set the TAC level in different countries and this is the reason why the authorities don’t make the best of decisions in cross-boarding activities.
Without anticipating the calculation level of the track access charge on the long-run, a major uncertainty about future costs will arise among railway operators. Consequen-tly, it is difficult to establish the return of investments in rolling stock which has a life-cycle of 30 years or more and this obstructs railway transport development. Moreover, each member state relies on its own method of calculation for determining their own variables (for example tonnage, vehicles, number of seats, number of passengers carried), which could change from one year to another. This leads to unpredictable levels of charges and causes the lack of transparency of charging mechanisms.
Consequently, CER recommends that the EU guidelines should establish the minimum period when track access charges should be established. This period should be of at least three years and it should logically be the same for any multi-annual contract signed by the infrastructure manager and the state.
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