In view of the upcoming Transport Council in Brussels on 14 March, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) calls for a sound balance in Shift Rail between all actors, including railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, manufacturers, academia and others. For the ERA Regulation, CER encourages EU Member States to set up a strong and effective business-oriented European Railway Agency.
For many years the European Institutions have been calling for a breakthrough approach for the European railway sector and started such by drafting a new legal framework for research - the Shift Rail Joint Undertaking initiative - and for the Single European Railway Area - the Fourth Railway Package's Technical Pillar including the Regulation for the European Railway Agency (ERA).
CER welcomes the efforts made by the Member States to set up a sound framework for rail research in Europe. It needs to be ensured:
that both railway undertakings and infrastructure managers can become Associate Members with a minimum contribution of EUR 12 million across all Innovation Programmes, and
that companies of various size, pooling their capacities and knowledge, are enabled to enter the Shift Rail Joint Undertaking.
Fourth Railway Package
With regard to the Fourth Railway Package, CER stresses the need for a breakthrough approach in terms of a strong European Railway Agency. The Agency should serve as the central point in Europe enforcing harmonisation of certification and authorisation processes and executing them across the European Union.
Consequently the Agency shall have the right to audit the national safety agencies and, where it is found that procedures are not working properly, appropriate corrective measures must be taken. With ERA becoming the railway authority in Europe, the establishment of an independent Board of Appeal is necessary. The decisions of this Board of Appeal must be binding for the Agency as this is the only way to ensure legal certainty for all actors in the railway sector.
In addition, the Agency has an essential role to play in identifying spare parts to be standardised, in particular by establishing a working party to this end.
Libor Lochman added: "The European institutions have been continuously demanding a modern European railway sector able to face the challenges of the future. The sector has made huge efforts to deliver a competitive 21st-century transport system and asked the European institutions in return to provide a sound legal framework. The Council now needs to suit the action to the word."
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