European Court ruling favours vertical separation T


HE European Court for Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the First Railway Package does not require member states to have an institutional separation between an infrastructure manager (IM) and the incumbent railway operator. The ruling on February 28 follows an investigation into the practices of railways in Austria, Germany, Hungary and Spain, in light of concerns raised by the European Commission (EC). Austria and Germany have long argued that the holding company structure complies with European law and the ECJ supports this position, stating that the Recast directive allows member states to integrate both the IM and incumbent operator into a single holding company.


“It is apparent that both those companies have separate legal personalities as well as their own bodies and


resources which are different from those of their respective holding companies,” the ECJ said in a statement. The ECJ also rejected the


EC’s argument that Germany failed to fulfil its obligations regarding the fixing of charges and the implementation of a system limiting infrastructure costs and reducing the level of access charges.


EC transport commissioner Mr Siim Kallas expressed his disappointment at the ruling, but said the judgement is not in conflict with the Fourth Railway Package (IRJ March p4).


Despite rejecting its views


on Austria and Germany, the ECJ did support the EC’s verdict that the practices adopted in Spain and Hungary contravene EU law. It found that the Spanish government has failed to respect the independence of the IM by entrusting it with the tasks of determining access


In brief Argentina


charges for path allocation and use of the railway network. It also found that Spain failed to institute a performance-related charging scheme aimed at minimising disruption, and structured its path allocation system to favour the incumbent operator thus restricting access to new operators.


In Hungary the court found that charges paid to the infrastructure manager are not at a cost directly incurred as a result of operating the train service. It also pointed out that Hungary is failing to balance the accounts of IMs and adopt incentives to reduce the costs and charges to operate and use railway infrastructure, while it criticised the allocation of traffic management to two separate operators, Hungarian State Railways (MAV) and GySEV.


Hungary is currently implementing reforms which will create an independent infrastructure manager (p8).


Brazilian mining giant Vale announced on March 11 that it has suspended a project to develop one of the largest potassium mines in the world in Argentina’s Neuquén province, which includes the construction of 350km of new railway. The cost of the Rio Colorado mine has reportedly almost doubled from $US 5.9bn to $US 11bn due to exchange rate fluctuations and inflation.


Australia


Transport for New South Wales has formed an alliance with Leighton Contractors and Abigroup to carry out the $A 265m ($US 273m) Epping - Thornleigh Third Track (ETTT) project, which will increase capacity through a major bottleneck in the Sydney area. The 6km third track between Pennant Hill and Thornleigh will segregate northbound freight and passenger trains on the steeply-graded section of the Epping - Hornsby section of the Main North Line. The project will be completed in mid-2016.


Bosnia


Republic Srpska Railways (ZRS) recorded a 10% increase in freight volumes last year, with traffic rising to 5.4 million tonnes. ZRS, which operates a 424km network, also reduced operating costs by 3% last year.


Brazil


Tenders are due to be launched next month for the construction of the Reais 2.3bn ($US 1.16bn) Central West Integration Railway. The initial phase will run for 1040km from Campinorte in the state of Goiás to Lucas do Rio Verde in Mato Grosso while the second phase will extend the line 598km to Vilhena in Rondônia state. The line’s principal traffic will be soya.


Greece inaugurates Neo Ikonio port line: The freight-only line linking the port of Neo Ikonio near Piraeus with the Athens - Kiato line at Thriasio was officially opened on February 28. The 17km line has 10 bridges with a total length of 1.4km, seven bored tunnels totalling 7km, and two cut-and-cover tunnels. The ƒ156.6m project was announced in 2000 but was delayed for more than two years by financial problems. Half of the funding for the line was provided by the European Union Cohesion Fund with the remainder coming from domestic sources. Photo: Nikos Klonos


IRJ April 2013 Britain


Franchised passenger operators achieved record ridership for the period between October 1 and December 31, according to


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