1. Meeting of the WG on Rail Transport Statistics 2-3 April 2009
Recent developments in Community Rail Transport Policy
Daniel Jacques,
European Commission
« Rail transport and interoperability unit »

2. The three railway packages: state of play
1st Railway Package: All Member States have formally transposed
2nd Railway Package: All Member States have formally transposed
3d Railway Package:
- Directive 2007/58/EC shall be implemented by 3/6/09 at the latest
- Directive 2007/59/EC shall be implemented by 3/12/09 at the latest
All the institutions required by the first and second railway packages have already been established in the Member States to a different degree:
national companies and bodies in charge of capacity allocation
entities responsible for issuing licenses
national safety authorities
investigation bodies
notified bodies
regulatory bodies (doubts about administrative capacity)
Delays in the transposition (over 110 infringement procedures for the two packages)
On 26 June 2008 the Commission has opened infringement procedures for incorrect transposition of the 1st railway package against 24 Member States

3. Main actions of 2008 (1)
Regulation (EC) No 1335/2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 establishing a European Railway Agency.
Entered into force on 31 December 2008, the proposed regulation aims to adapt the legislative framework of the European Railway Agency to the new tasks arising from the amendments made to the directive on railway safety and the directive on interoperability of the rail system.
A new important task of the agency will be to classify in a single reference document all the technical and safety rules applicable in each Member State. Therefore, the agency will help to increase the cross-acceptance of authorisations for railway vehicles between MS.

4. Main actions of 2008 (2)
Directive 2008/57/EC (17 June 2008) on the Interoperability of the Rail System within the Community, amending Directives 96/48/EC and 2001/16/EC (as modified by 2004/50/EC and 2004/49/EC) in order to allow the cross-acceptance of locomotives
Directive 2008/110/EC (16 December 2008) amending Directive 2004/49/EC on safety on the Community railways (Railway Safety Directive)

5. Main actions of 2008 (3)
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a European rail network for competitive freight (adopted by the Council on 11 December)
The proposal relates in particular to the procedures for the selection of rail freight corridors, together with their governance and management.
Communication to the European Parliament and the Council on "Multi-annual contracts for rail infrastructure quality" (6 February 2008); it recommends measures to MS and infrastructure managers to combine financial equilibrium with an appropriate level of rail infrastructure services.
Communication on Rail noise abatement measures addressing the existing fleet (8 July 2008)
Communication on Community guidelines on State aid for railway
Undertakings (22 July 2008)
Communication on the Quality of Rail Freight Services (8 September 2008)

6. Main initiatives foreseen for 2009
Rail interoperability and safety report (June 2009)
Communication on external relations (June 2009)
ERTMS Deployment Plan (July 2009)
Communication on the Rail Market Monitoring Scheme (October 2009)
Recast of the first railway package (October 2009)
Update of the safety indicators of the railway safety Directive 2004/49/EC

7. Origins of the Communication on rail market development and its monitoring
Art. 10(b) of Directive 91/440/EC as modified by Directive 2001/12/EC requires the Commission to report to the Parliament and the Council on:
« the evolution of the internal market in rail services, the framework conditions, the state of the Trans-European Rail Freight Network, the utilisation of access rights, barriers to more effective rail services, and the need for legislation »

8. Indicative scope of the report
Regulatory and institutional framework for market opening and growth
(including a list o EU legislation applicable to the railway sector, information on its transposition in the Member States as well as overview of infringement procedures and of institutions established on the basis of the legislation)
Performance of the EU rail transport market
Rail market opening score
Costs of rail transport operations
Rail infrastructure capacity and intensity of network use
Other issues (e.g. employment per railway undertaking and infrastructure manager)

9. Performance of the EU rail transport market
Evolution of modal split for freight and passenger transport
Evolution of rail transport performance
Quarterly changes in rail traffic volumes and in rail traffic performance
Forecast of rail transport development until 2020 (based on the study on the situation and perspectives of the rail market)
Rail transport performance by type of goods
Development of production by Member State, year and market segment
Financial indicators for railway undertakings

10. Measuring the level of market opening
Number of valid licences and safety certificates per Member State (ERA)
Total market shares of non-incumbent railway undertakings
Rail market opening score
- Based on the Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index estimating the concentration ratio in an industry and serving as indicator of the amount of competition in the respective market
- The index can range from 0 (perfect competition) to 1 (single monopolistic producer)

11. Costs of rail transport operations and capacity of infrastructure
Track access charges (ITF study for 2008)
Length of the railway network, of which high speed lines
Railway lines density
Changes in the intensity of network use
Investments in maintenance, renewals and new construction of rail infrastructure
Financial contributions of States to infrastructure operation, maintenance, renewals and construction

12. Main problems encountered
Non-availability of data, in particular of:
the most recent data
data reflecting the real position of railways in comparison to other transport modes → «intercity statistics»
Missing contributions from some Member States (leading i.a. to difficulties with calculation of values for EU-27, EU-15 and EU-10)
Discrepancy between some Eurostat data and data delivered in DG TREN questionnaires

13. What will happen next?
Rail Market Monitoring Scheme (RMMS) Working Group members will check if the information for their countries is correct and send comments until … 2009
Final draft of the document will be elaborated by DG TREN until Mid July 2009 and used as Commission Staff Working document accompanying Commission Communication to the Parliament and the Council on rail market development and its monitoring
Mid July – Mid October: Internal Commission consultations on the document, translation of the Communication in the official EU-languages
Mid October 2007: Date foreseen for the formal adoption of the Communication by the European Commission
The Commission will publish the report on a regular basis

14. Thank you for your attention!