The European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) has presented four key policy points that it wants the new European Commission to implement. The association wants European rail infrastructure to be fixed, a Single European Railway Area to be put into practice and the sector’s competitiveness to be improved.
The focus points of ERFA’s policy manifesto include infrastructure, track access charges (TAC), ERTMS implementation and a Single European Railway Area.
In terms of infrastructure, the association wants the TEN-T to be completed and temporary capacity restrictions to be optimised, diminishing the negative impact on rail freight. It wants railway undertakings to be fully compensated for the damages incurred. ERFA points to Switzerland as an exemplary case that can serve as a benchmark.
“Track access charges rules and regimes have to be reassessed and developed into a strategic framework to support shift to rail”, ERFA continues. “We need a multiannual stable framework for TAC and major support measures as TraFöG in Germany. TAC policy should be the major, non-discriminatory instrument to support rail freight instead of subsidising specific market segments or directly subsidising specific companies.”
ERTMS
ERFA also points to ERTMS as a key point, which has to be “fully prioritised in implementation”, the association says. A condition is that there will have to be reliable implementation plans, which includes a minimisation of specification changes as well as a harmonisation and simplification of test specifications.
The association stresses that ERTMS on-board units will have to be fully compensated, because railway undertakings do not gain any added value from the technology. “Without this, ERTMS deployment will remain slow and problematic. There should be no new public investment and finance programs for other technologies until ERTMS is fully implemented.”
Single European Railway Area
Lastly, ERFA points to the Single European Railway Area as a major policy question that has to be resolved. “A Single European Railway Area has to be completed with reduction of bureaucracy, simplified language requirements and simplified certification processes for railway licences and rolling stock”, it says.
Conor Feighan, ERFA’s secretary general, adds: “The manifesto comes at an important moment ahead of the appointment of a new European Commissioner for Transport. It will be important the incoming Commissioner can ensure that current initiatives can be concluded in a satisfactory manner, such as the Railway Capacity Regulation, whilst also developing an ambitious strategy for rail freight.”