The European Parliament will vote on the Fourth Railway Package in plenary this week. The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) reminds policy makers that the future of the European rail sector is at stake: if good legislative solutions are approved by the Parliament, it will be a milestone on the way towards a better legislative framework for Europe's railways.
Regarding the technical pillar of the Package, CER supports all amendments which aim at providing streamlined and transparent procedures for safety certification and vehicle authorisation, and at strengthening the role of the European Railway Agency. These provisions will be key to reducing the time-to-service of railway vehicles, and making it possible for all undertakings to have a faster return on their investments.
CER also hopes that modifications to the text approved by the TRAN Committee in December 2013 on public service obligations [Regulation EC 1370/2007] are kept to a minimum. Compared to the initial proposal of the European Commission, the adopted report represents an improvement in terms of a flexible organisation of public transport by rail. It should however be noted that the lack of experience gained from the application of the regulation does not justify the original Commission proposal for such a massive recast in general.
Moreover, CER looks forward to the vote on the revision of Directive 2012/34 EU on governance and market opening and fully supports the amendment tabled by a number of MEPs which would correct the text approved by the TRAN Committee in a very positive way. Flexible governance models must reflect the variety of national environments. While keeping firm provisions on financial transparency as well as on the strong role of regulatory bodies guaranteeing non-discriminatory track access, this text would give Member States a real choice between separated and integrated models.
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