the agreement on the fourth railway package strongly disappoints the ERFA



Last night the negotiators of the Parliament and the European Council have reached a preliminary agreement on the so-called political pillar of the fourth railway package that is introduced by EU commission in January 2013 with the scope to improve the competitiveness of the railway field and the quality of the railway services with the introduction of greater competition in the fleeting services and to guarantee parity conditions for operators, and with the cost reduction at the expense of the railway operators in order to obtain authorizations and certifications.

Satisfaction for the attainment of the agreement is expressed by the European commissioner to the Transports, Violeta Bulc, second which "this understanding opens a new chapter for the European railroads. From too much time - it has found - the railway field does not have incentives in order to adapt itself to the question of the consumers and, consequently, the market share of the railroads constantly is diminished. The gradual opening of the market - it has emphasized Violeta Bulc - will improve the performances of the railway services. This agreement will create also new opportunities of investment and will stimulate the creation of places of work in the field. Moreover it would have to encourage the Europeans to make a greater use of the rail shipment contributing to our objectives of decarbonizzazione".

Anything but warning the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), the association that represents the operators who are making their income on the European railway market, that he has spoken about "lacked occasion". ERFA has manifested "disappointment for the insufficient progresses in the attainment of a competitive, sustainable and oriented railway field to the increase". For the association, "the result is far from the initial ambitions of the EU commission for the reform of the railway field".

ERFA has denounced that "the personal interest of the railway monopolies dominates the result, blind supported from many national governments of the EU who meantime go implotonando truck ahead in order to transport the goods and liberalizing their markets of the buses to long distance, while their state railway societies come down in a more and more indefensible spiral of debits".

According to ERFA, "the true winners of the agreement yesterday they are the other more polluting modalities of transport, guided in particular from the field of the road haulage that continues to earn market shares whereby the railway field refuses to reform itself".

ERFA has found that "the concept of supplier of services, manager of the railway infrastructure that supplies services independently and impartial regarding any railway enterprise, working for the increase and the results of the field rather than for a single operator, it appears still too much revolutionary for the railway field".

"The dispositions absolutely attenuated on the transparency financial institution relatively to as the state companies manage their economic accounts - have accused moreover the association - they induce also to consider that not there is some real interest to assure that the public funds are used in order to stimulate the investments, and in order not to limit the increase of the field, through, for example, the which crossed subsidies".