Category: EU Council

How does the role of IMs change with the latest Capacity Regulation draft?

The EU Council’s latest proposal for the Capacity Management Regulation (CMR) of the Greening Freight Package is bringing significant changes to the role of the European Network of Infrastructure Managers (ENIM). First and foremost, the new draft states that “ENIM shall have no policy-making or regulatory powers”. The role of ENIM has been one of…

‘Policymakers are giving up on rail freight goals’

The EU Council adopted a General Approach on the Capacity Management Regulation of the Greening Freight Package on Tuesday, 18 June. This means that the EU Council presented a new version of the Regulation where several changes were introduced. This step, however, is not enough to meet the goals set out by the European Union…

EU Council gives final approval for new TEN-T regulation

The EU Council finally adopted the revised regulation concerning the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). The act still needs to be signed by the Presidents of the EU Council and the European Parliament before being published in the EU’s official journal. The regulation will then enter into force 20 days after the publication.…

‘A fairer rail freight market means fewer state-owned companies’

“There is no reason for the member states to act indirectly as market participants via state-owned, integrated companies”. This was stated in a joint paper by UIRR, ERFA, Die Güterbahnen and RailGood, which set out what they think are the most important measures for rail freight transport in Europe between 2024 and 2029. According to…

Is the Capacity Management Directive taking the wrong turn?

The Greening Freight Transport Package (GFTP) seemed to be a sign of EU-wide political will to bring significant changes and improve the transport sector in the continent. The Regulation on the Use of Railway Infrastructure Capacity was supposed to be the flagship of this Package, which is why it was received with the most optimism…

EU Parliament’s plenary says yes to ‘monstertrucks’ after all

With a marginal majority (300 votes against 295), the European Parliament has approved the legislative proposals of the Weights and Dimensions Directive (WDD) part of the Greening Freight Transport Package (GFTP). In practice, this means that the Parliament approved, among other things, the circulation of gigaliner trucks and the use of heavier trucks diesel-powered trucks […]