News
N what is likely to become a landmark case, Mr Niilo Jääskinen Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, has concluded that the integrated structure of railways in Germany and Austria does not contravene European legislation on liberalisation.
Delivering his opinions on infringement actions brought against several European Union (EU) member states by the European Commission (EC), Jääskinen said that European Directive 91/440 does not require institutional separation of the incumbent operator from the infrastructure manager, and that the holding company structure adopted for Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and German Rail (DB) is legally sound.
European Court to rule in favour of integrated railways I
Keith Barrow Associate editor
Although still subject to deliberation by the Judges of the Court, who will deliver the final verdict on the case, the Advocate General’s
conclusions will be welcomed by DB, which has lobbied against the hiving off of its infrastructure subsidiary DB Networks. In most cases, the judges accept the conclusions of the Advocate General. Jääskinen also rejected the
EC’s arguments that Germany failed to meet its obligations with regard to the fixing of charges and the
implementation of a system to limit infrastructure costs and reduce the level of access charges. He has therefore concluded the Commission’s actions must be dismissed. “This is an important signal, not only for the institutions that will soon receive the EC proposals for the Fourth Railway Package, but also for all those member states that
recently took a decision to separate their rail holdings not because factual economic evidence suggested it, but because of the pressure of the EC services based on a biased interpretation of the rail acquis [EU legislative precedent],” says Mr Libor Lochmann, executive director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER).
The EC will seek a more permanent legislative solution to the issue as part of the forthcoming Fourth Railway Package. DB CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube said in a recent interview with IRJ (IRJ Sept p39) that he does not see vertical separation as inevitable. “We will see whether the EC comes up with a proposal on the issue and how it is seen by the European Parliament and the Council,” he says. “I’m confident that the track record of our system
regarding transport
performance, benefits to the customer, public expenditure, and the development of competition will prevent politicians from eliminating this option for the future.” However, Jääskinen upheld several complaints lodged by the EC against other member states. He says that Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations by discriminatory treatment of new entrants to the market, who are disadvantaged in comparison with incumbent operator Renfe, which he argues has preferential access to infrastructure. He also says that by failing to ensure the accounts of the infrastructure manager are in balance, Hungary has infringed the directive, although he ruled that MÁV and GySEV do not gain any competitive advantage from retaining path allocation functions.
Sweden to boost rail investment by 30%
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WEDEN’s prime minister Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, speaking in Linköping on August 29, announced plans to increase railway investment by 30% between 2014 and 2025 as part of a plan to invest more in infrastructure to encourage economic growth. Details of the investment programme
were due to be announced on September 20.
BLS receives first double-deck emu for Bern S-Bahn: The first of 28 double-deck emus for the Bern S-Bahn was handed over by Stadler to BLS in a ceremony on September 4 in the Swiss capital. The first trains are now being tested on Line S31 linking Belp and Münchenbuchsee, and will enter scheduled service on Line S1 (Fribourg - Bern - Thun) in December. Each four-car train is 102.6m long and seats 335 passengers including 61 in first class. The 160km/h trains are accessible to disabled passengers and have space for three wheelchairs. One of the two toilets on each train is designed for use by people in wheelchairs.
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Reinfeldt singled out two projects which the government is keen to push ahead. One is the so-called Eastern Link, a new 150km line with a maximum speed of 250km/h between Stockholm and Linköping with a price tag of SKr 30bn ($US 4.5bn). The other is a SKr 5bn scheme to track-double the single-track sections of the 76km Gothenburg - Borås line. These two projects could form part of a proposed high-speed network linking Stockholm, Jönköping, Gothenburg and Malmö. The government also proposes to make permanent a temporary measure to increase investment in the national network instituted this year and next which would boost spending by SKr 20bn. Trafikverket told IRJ that this increase “will bring us to the right level of investment” enabling an increase in network capacity.
IRJ October 2012
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