Opinion
match: in the Netherlands, Denmark, the British Arriva, Laing Rail (passengers), and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (freight) and, more recently, the state owned rail freight companies in Belgium and Portugal as well as Transfesa in Spain.
the origin of the ‘profits’ (e.g. public funds granted by the State to fund infrastructure development), or its intended use (to cross-finance commercial activities of the holding, to make acquisitions abroad etc). Other competition issues are also being considered, and the Commission believes that this leads to the absurd result of independent operators financing their own competitors belonging to the holding company; these are the hidden subsidies that keep DB ahead of any competition. This Commission also states that
‘cross subsidisation would also enable integrated companies to use the funds aimed for reserved areas to finance the acquisition of other transport companies (or, at least, to facilitate their acquisition): a good illustration of this would be the acquisitions made by DB in recent years that no competitor was in a position to
The Commission pointed to other issues including the amounts received by DB Netz or granted from it including free interest rates loans, capital increases funded by the State or the fact that during the first years of liberalisation DB subsidiaries were the main users of the network and benefited from advantageous tariffs.
Private sector investment needed There is much more to this directive of course; plans to give increased interoperability and give more responsibility to the European Rail Agency for ensuring technical harmonisation across Europe and, in return, reduce the need for receiving approvals from individual member states. This has, in the past, enabled the French authorities to block approvals for rolling stock not manufactured in France – as Eurostar found when it had the temerity to purchase new trains to be made by Siemens. There is a section on liberalisation of passenger services which will be strongly opposed by those who want to preserve
the status quo even when it has been demonstrated in several member states that tendering out packages of services can provide better quality at considerably lower costs.
So what will happen now? The Council
and European Parliament are preparing to scrutinize the new Directive which may or may not make sufficient progress to be ‘carried over’ to the new Commission and Parliament after the elections of 2014. The Fourth Railway Package is an essential prerequisite to successfully completing the liberalisation of the rail sector and to attracting private sector investment which the sector needs so badly. Our experience in the UK is that this will not come unless the private sector sees long-term confidence; this needs an effective internal market with a level playing field in rail between all market actors. If this happens, one can expect good growth in quality, price and efficiencies as well as of course much reduced carbon outputs. So all those who want to see growth, better service quality and more competitive prices must continue to press the Council and the European Parliament to amend the draft to ensure that these objectives are achieved. Tony Berkeley is chairman of the UK Rail Freight Group
Consult Develop Design
Providing comprehensive engineering services in metro and mainline signalling using experienced and qualified engineers.
Within the safety-signalling environment, we maintain a culture that remains true to proven signalling engineering principles.
Our engineering team is able to under- stand our clients requirements to deliver each stage of the project life cycle.
§ Signalling system specification and design § Independent checking and detail design § Independent Assurance of Signalling Systems § Design acceptance on behalf of client § Independent Safety Assessment § Auditing § Technology evaluation
Due to an ever increasing workload we have a requirement for signalling designers, project engineers and support staff, if you would like to discuss further please contact us:
t: +44 (0) 1985 212 020 e:
info@degsignal.co.uk
w:
www.degsignal.co.uk f: +44 (0) 1985 212 053
DEG Signal Ltd, Aspect House, Crusader Park, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 8BT
March 2013 Page 67
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