Conclusions of Effectiveness of EU Rail Policy
International Conference, Brussels, 22 June 2010

The conference took place at a crucial time for EU rail policy, with the opening of the passenger sector to competition starting with international services last January, the proposed recast of the first railway package expected shortly, action to enforce the existing measures in a number of member states pending, and a new transport White Paper due out later in the year.

There was wide agreement on a number of aspects of the policy, including the desirability of competition in both passenger and freight markets, the need for strong regulation to ensure non discriminatory access to the infrastructure, the need for pricing and investment to take full account of external costs on all modes of transport and the need to tackle the serious financial problems of many rail systems, where funding of infrastructure and of public service obligations is inadequate to prevent the rundown of the network. Indeed the latter two were repeatedly cited as areas where there has been a failure to implement the policy, with serious consequences for the railway.

But wide differences remain on other issues. Some delegates argue that new legislation is needed for the policy to succeed, for instance to clarify the policy on infrastructure charging, to ensure total separation of infrastructure from operations and to guarantee non-discriminatory access to rail related services such as terminals and maintenance depots. Others argued that existing measures, including general competition law, were adequate and what was lacking was effective enforcement. Other unresolved issues remain the best way of introducing competition in the passenger sector (franchising or open access), how best to ensure that infrastructure managers are efficient (regulation or multi annual contracts with government) and whether there is a need for a Europe-wide regulator.

In short, there seemed little doubt that European rail policy was on the right lines and improving the performance of European railways but still a need to make it more effective and controversy on how to do so.

Chris Nash, Research Professor
Institute for Transport Studies
University of Leeds, UK