Consistency in pursuing goals, political commitment and explicit financial guarantees. Those are the three pillars that will ensure rail investments take place in a targeted and efficient manner in pursuit of reaching climate and decarbonisation goals and making rail freight more competitive. According to ETF, CER, and UITP, it is high time the EU proved its commitment to supporting the sector.
The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) are firmly convinced that there is no time to lose in this regard.
To provide some context, the plenary session of the EU Parliament will vote on a regulation on “the effective coordination of economic policies and multilateral budgetary surveillance”. Simply put, the Parliament will vote on a regulation that will provide clarity and guidelines on the EU’s financial and investment strategy and fund allocation.
How is rail freight affected by this? According to the vote’s outcome, the rail freight industry will be able to determine the investment focus and how funds will be allocated. For the three parties voicing that the EU should be consistent, committed, and explicit, investments should focus on “assets, quality of jobs, operational safety, infrastructure, and modernisation of rolling stock and fleets”.
Do not deepen investment deficits
ETF, CER and UITP claim that in the past four years, the rail and public transport sectors have responded to the challenges posed by COVID and the energy crisis, proving their commitment to EU policies and keeping cargo and passengers moving.
However, the two sectors currently face the risk of financial unviability, considering that the gap between costs and revenues keeps widening. “The application of new EU fiscal rules should not contribute to deepen the investment deficits built over the years, exacerbate reductions in transport service, with subsequent depreciation of working conditions and irreversible impacts on worker shortages,” the three parties stress.
Moreover, they demand more transparency on the processes followed after adopting the updated regulations. Their legal adoption should be followed by intense engagement with the industry while providing more clarity on available official information and data sharing in cases like implementing the Recovery instrument, among other things.
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