The European Commission presented a draft proposal for the recast of European railway law today.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) AG welcomes the Commission’s initiative to promote the harmonisation of European railway legislation.
Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of DB AG commented, “If we are to promote rail transport in Europe, we need harmonised European framework conditions. Individual national concepts do not help the process.”
The objective now, he added, is to devise Europe-wide solutions to central issues. This refers in particular to unimpeded access to rail infrastructure and creating an equal level of regulation throughout Europe.
In DB AG’s view it is crucial that the European Parliament and the railway sector are sufficiently involved in the current initiative and future amendments. For that reason key regulatory fields such as the scope of regulation or infrastructure financing should be moved from the annexes to the legal texts itself.
In addition to the contents of the proposal presented by the Commission, DB AG also believes there are further issues which are crucial for achieving a harmonised European rail market.
Central items include the complete liberalisation of the rail passenger market, strengthening the competencies of the European Railway Agency to rule out discrimination in the technical sector, ensuring sufficient funding for rail infrastructure, and creating a level playing field between different modes of transport.
All of these subjects should also be tackled at European level as soon as possible.
DB AG is pleased to note that the Commission stresses the importance of these issues in the communication which accompanies its legislative proposal and encourages the Commission to implement appropriate European initiatives.