Communication: Progress report on the implementation of the Railway Safety Directive

Article 31 of Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on safety of the Community's railways (Railway Safety Directive) requires the Commission to submit to the European Parliament and to the Council every five years a report on the implementation of this Directive.

A common regulatory framework for railway safety is essential for achieving a Single European Rail Area. In this regard Directive 2004/49/EC represented a great step towards the achievement of this goal. Indeed it established a framework for harmonising national safety rules, safety certification of railway undertakings, the tasks and roles of the national safety authorities and the investigation of accidents. The Member States had as a consequence to abstain from developing their own safety rules and standards on the basis of disparate technical and operational approaches.

This Communication sets out the progress that has been made in implementing the Railway Safety Directive on the European rail system since the Commission adopted its second report in September 2009.

Chapter 1 presents the past five years’ developments as regards legislation based on the Railway Safety Directive and Chapter 2 focuses on its implementation and enforcement. More detail can be found in the accompanying Commission Staff Working Document "Progress report on the implementation of the Railway Safety Directive (Directive 2004/49/EC)".

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)740: Follow the progress of this communication through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:740:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2014)355: Progress report on the implementation of the Railway Safety Directive http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2014:355:FIN

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