Some implications of the EU rail transport policy on rail business environment in CEE countries

The development of rail transport is the key to the integral development of the entire European transport system. In 2010, consultations were started to discuss the proposal of the European Commission for merging various EU directives relating to railway transport. In 2011, the European Transport White Paper was published; the paper lays down the transport policy for the current decade with
a perspective up until the years 2030/2050. The principles of the White Paper are compliant with the general ideas of the Commission. Both of these documents see the strengthening of supervision at the national level as the key issue for improving the competitiveness of the rail sector; require the separation of ownership and using the
first best infrastructure pricing solutions. The authors find that the following questions must be answered in order to implement these ideas: 1) how to allocate supervisory functions between the state and infrastructure manager; 2) which would be the best way for realising the unbundling of rail activities; 3) how can the sustainability of railways be ensured while using marginal cost pricing in the situation where formal transport policy does not allow state support for rail transport. The authors seek answers to these questions by comparing the situation in the Nordic and Baltic countries, as these two groups of countries illustrate two diametrically different approaches to the possible solutions.