The last 12 months have been marked by a number of key policy milestones, in particular the long anticipated Transport White Paper which set out EU transport policy for the next ten years and beyond. The focus must now be on how to implement the proposed measures if this vision is to become a reality in the next decade. The European Commission also adopted a proposal to recast the first railway package. CER hopes that decision-makers will not only acknowledge the importance of this dossier but also carry the recast proposal as quickly as possible through Parliament and Council, so that the important improvements it offers for the rail sector can be implemented as soon as possible.

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Annual Report 2010-2011

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2968 Kb

In the last year, European politics has turned out both better and worse than expected for the railways. It was better because the aim of decarbonising transport has finally become mainstream, putting railways at the centre of the future European transport system. It was worse because nothing much has happened in terms of concrete and actual policy measures: the railways were mostly left alone to overcome the economic crisis and are still often put at a disadvantage to other transport modes. In the months to come, policy-makers will have to take a closer look at the potential of rail to make European transport more sustainable, efficient and safer.

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CER Annual Report 2009-2010: A closer look at the railways	[ ]	2660 Kb
CER & European Transport Policy history 1988-2010	[ ]	723 Kb

FORWARD

2008 will be remembered as the year in which the global financial and economic crisis hit Europe. The recession is having a major impact on European railways, particularly in the rail freight sector. We have seen a progressive decline in freight traffic since mid-2008 throughout Europe. The figures worsened in January 2009 with freight traffic volumes declining by about 35% compared to January 2008.

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Towards a Sustainable Rail Network	[Annual Report 2008]	2340 Kb
CER History Flyer	[CER and European Transport History 1988 - 2009]	535 Kb

2008 is a significant year for CER and a crucial year for rail transport in Europe.

This year, CER and the European railway and infrastructure companies can look back on 20 years of cooperation with the European institutions in shaping European transport policy. In 1988, the European railways realised that the era of national business would come to an end in rail transport. After the signing of the European Single Act in 1987, other sectors were already preparing for the internal market, an “area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured.” Even if railways, at the time, were still state-owned public service providers with a clearly limited national area of activity, it became clear that EU legislators would shift their attention to rail transport.

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080724_cer_annual_report_ 07_08_final.pdf

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