Plan to open access to rail network

Date: 16/07/1998

By Tim Jones

LOCAL authorities and cargo-shippers could charter their own train services under radical new plans for Europe's railways due to be unveiled by Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock next week.

This latest proposal, coming hard on the heels of Kinnock's campaign to open up 25% of the EU's rail freight market over ten years, will anger French labour unions whose opposition to liberalisation helped bring down Alan Juppé's centre-right government.

"European railway companies are too fragile to engage in a fratricidal fight," said Lucien Lecanu, international secretary of the Fédération CGT des Cheminots. "We are opposed to all modifications of the 1992 directive which are proposed by the Commission."

Kinnock believes the original, six-year-old legislation, which forces new freight companies to forge alliances with existing monopolies if they are to win access to national markets, has failed.

The new proposals to be adopted by Commissioners next Wednesday (22 July) would allow "non-railway undertakings" to bid for the use of rail paths (time-slots when a train can use a particular section of railway infrastructure) and then contract a licensed rail company to operate the service.

"Access, that is the right to operate trains, would remain with rail undertakings. But the right to acquire capacity would be extended to anyone who had a justified interest," said an official.

If the plan is approved by EU governments, a specialist transporter who wanted to shift cargo at a specified time every day could bid for the 'slot' and then invite the cheapest and most reliable offers from rail operators. City transport authorities keen to control departures and arrivals on a public service network could bid directly for a path. "They would become involved as players and could take on the incumbent rail operators," said an official.

Kinnock believes recent developments justify this move. The French and Belgian railways have formed a freight alliance, and are soon to be followed by the Italian and Swiss networks. Last month, Nederlandse Spoorwegen and Deutsche Bahn surprised the markets by announcing the merger of their freight transport arms.

This new transportation giant, to be named Rail Cargo Europe, aims to provide a seamless pan-European network for moving goods by cooperating with other rail companies, freight-forwarders, road haulage firms and barge transporters. "At the moment, the two companies have a monopoly in certain countries," said a Commission source.

The proposed directive also sets out rules for the companies which own and maintain rail infrastructure to charge operators for running on their tracks. In principle, says the Commission, prices charged for access to infrastructure should reflect the total costs of running the service, a system known as 'marginal cost-pricing'.

At the moment, charges are levied in nine different ways across the Union, making it awkward to offer international services. To avoid making more environmentally friendly rail transport unattractive, the Netherlands and Sweden do not charge for infrastructure access, while the German system seeks full recovery of costs.

The new legislation would allow for a limited menu of exemptions for extra charges. Track-owners would be allowed to charge an entry or subscription fee so long as this did not discriminate against newcomers and different prices could be established for different types of trains.