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.

 
Uncertainties over the introduction of the new Lisbon Treaty, resulting in a caretaker European Commission, brought European politics to an almost complete halt for much of the last year. At a time when European leadership was needed most to turn the economic recession and the environmental crisis into an opportunity to create a more effi cient and greener transport system, not much was achieved. The political machinery of the EU was too busy reorganising itself.
 
In February 2010, the rail sector bid a warm farewell to European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani at the European Railway Award, and the Estonian Siim Kallas took over as the new European Commissioner responsible for transport. Early on, Vice-President Kallas met with top representatives of CER and chief executives of rail companies, who provided him with a memorandum on transport policy. Soon after, a dedicated European Commission Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility (DG MOVE) was established, headed by Matthias Ruete. After months of caretaking, all now seems set for a fresh start and a more productive second half of 2010.
 
The challenges ahead are huge. No less than a complete turnaround in European Union transport policy is needed to make real progress in reducing transport emissions. Reduction targets for absolute emissions should be established for the transport sector, with further targets set for each mode, taking into account the role modal shift should play. The rail sector is leading by example and has already agreed on a voluntary target to reduce specifi c emissions from rail traction by 30% over the period 1990 to 2020. All reduction targets should be demanding and the Commission needs to develop wideranging, ambitious and radical plans to enable these targets to actually be met.
 
Prices must play a key role in achieving the targets. Concretely, pricing mechanisms should be used to develop a more level playing fi eld between modes, based on a consistent infrastructure charging policy across all modes and the progressive internalisation of external costs of transport – starting with an urgent revision of the Eurovignette Directive. The railways, supported by the European Parliament, were more than disappointed by how this important issue was handled by the Swedish and Spanish presidencies in the Council.
 
But railways do not simply rely on public support. We are constantly stepping up our own efforts to overcome the effects of the recession, which saw the rail freight business slump to more than 30% below the level of 2008 and also affected rail passenger transport heavily. Nevertheless, when a volcanic ash cloud grounded European air traffi c in April 2010, we showed that the railways are a fl exible, effi cient and convenient alternative on both short- and long-haul distances for passenger and freight transport. At the same time, this incident demonstrated the need and the potential of interconnecting the main European rail high-speed lines. Rail infrastructure has to be properly fi nanced in order to make railways able to better exploit their potential.
 
In the coming months, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) will continue driving the debate on a more sustainable future for transport in times of a still wary economic uptake. We will strongly articulate the case for rail as the Commission considers proposals to decarbonise transport and prepares to publish a new White Book on transport. We will also raise the key issues of financing rail infrastructure and homogenising access rules to tracks and facilities, in particular when the Commission takes a closer look at the First Railway Package again.
 
We believe that the recent opening of the international rail passenger market and wider passenger rights will only bring true benefi ts to passengers and railway undertakings if common regulations are applied throughout Europe. Moreover, we will be proactive in stressing the need for sound financial support for the TEN–T network in view of the next revision of the EU fi nancial perspectives. And we will further aim to increase awareness of the crucial problems faced by rail transport in Central and Eastern Europe.
 
Last but not least, CER will reinforce its co-operation with the European Railway Agency and other rail sector associations on technical issues to maintain rail transport’s safety record and make it more interoperable. In a joint sector strategy paper, CER has recently outlined a number of key issues which need to be tackled by the European Railway Agency and the sector in coming years. Closer co-operation within the sector has already improved our input to the work of the European Railway Agency.
 
In all these activities, alongside our members, we as well as our members will only succeed if we work in close co-operation with our partners, the European institutions and national governments. Let us use this opportunity to thank you sincerely for your support throughout the last year.

Download(s)

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