Summary : 12 million EU inhabitants are affected by railway noise during the day and 9 million during the night. This study lists measures, funding and regulations to reduce it. The introduction of modern rolling stock will lower noise most significantly. In the short run, the replacement of cast iron by composite brake blocks on rail freight cars is most important. Developing a regulation scheme for a staged process towards low-noise rolling stock is the heart of a rail noise abatement strategy.

Executive summary :

Authors : Uwe CLAUSEN, Claus DOLL, Francis JAMES FRANKLIN, Gordana VASIC FRANKLIN, Hilmar HEINRICHMEYER, Joachim KOCHSIEK, Werner ROTHENGATTER and Niklas SIEBER

Committees : Transport and tourism

Summary : This study examines the application of the EU State Aid rules for infrastructure investments in the seaport sector and compares recent examples of State Aids for the northern and southern EU seaports against the background of various types of port organisation. The findings of the study can be used for future debates on EU port policy in the TRAN Committee.

Executive summary :

Authors : Karel Vanroye, Kees Verweij, Rikkert de Kort and Maja Koster (Buck Consultants International - BCI) Holger Kramer (Institut für Seeverkehrswirtschaft and Logistik - ISL) Gilbert Meyer, Delphine Dubreuil and Géry Deffontaines (Catram Consultants)

Committees : Transport and tourism

Summary : This note illustrates the crucial contribution of structural and cohesion policies to the "Europe 2020" strategy. It also highlights the role that the Parliament could play in strengthening these policies, which are all subject to the ordinary legislative procedure and will all undergo a far-reaching reform by 2014.

Authors : Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies (European Parliament) : Albert MASSOT MARTI (Agriculture), Ana Maria NOGUEIRA (Culture and Education), Irina POPESCU (Fisheries), Esther KRAMER (Regional Policy), Marc THOMAS (Transport) and Piero SOAVE (Tourism)

Committees : Agriculture and rural development, Culture and education, Fisheries, Regional and cohesion policy, Transport and tourism

Summary : This is a comprehensive digest of the current EU legislation on aviation security. It reminds notably of the obligations on the parties involved, the monitoring process, or the international aspects. The note also sheds light on the regime which applies to liquids on board, to the testing of body scanners or to the financing of security measures, which all give rise to recurrent significant debate.

Authors : Marc Thomas (Policy Department Structural and Cohesion Policies, European Parliament)

Committees : Transport and tourism

Summary : This note reviews the experience of vertical separation in the European railway sector. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of vertical separation as well as its economic, operational, safety and user impacts. Different approaches to vertical separation have produced different results, some having a substantial positive impact in terms of the competitive development of the railways, but others less so. This note sets out the results of a comparative analysis, drawing on a range of source material.

Executive summary :

Authors : Francesco Dionori (Steer Davies Gleave, Dick Dunmore (Steer Davies Gleave), Simon Ellis (Steer Davies Gleave) and Pietro Crovato (Steer Davies Gleave)

Committees : Transport and tourism

Summary : Effective Parliamentary work relies on specialised, objective, high-quality and up-to-date information. To this end, five units responsible for research, analysis and policy advice, known as 'Policy Departments' were created. Their activities cover all areas of competence of the European Parliament. They produce high level independent advice, based on research carried out either in-house or by external researchers. Policy Departments deliver a wide range of documents, comprising texts as diverse as indepth analyses of complex legislative issues, comparative studies, and short background notes. These tools aim to support the work of the parliamentary bodies. They serve a variety of purposes: they can feed directly into the legislative work of a specific committee or serve as a briefing for delegations of Members. Apart from a few confidential documents, all texts produced by the Policy Departments are published on the Parliament's website for the benefit of all Members and the wider public. In order to inform the wider public about its publications, Directorate B Structural and Cohesion Policies has put together a catalogue of research carried out by the Policy Department affiliated to the Directorate. The work of this Policy Department covers five policy areas corresponding to five parliamentary committees: Agriculture and Rural Development; Culture and Education; Fisheries; Regional Development; and Transport and Tourism. The catalogue provides an overview of recent publications (2004-2010) in the five policy areas. Short summaries describe the content of each document. Abbreviations inform the reader about the range of available language versions. The list of publications is provided hereafter. The reader is invited to either consult them online or request hard copies for further reading. The full-text versions of all documents are available in the Parliament's study database at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies

Authors : Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies

Committees : Transport and tourism, Regional and cohesion policy, Culture and education, Agriculture and rural development, Fisheries

Summary : This note provides a briefing on rail sector Regulatory Bodies set up by Member States in compliance with Directive 2001/14/EC. The note then discusses different models of regulation in force in the various Member States and the effect of regulation on the European railways market.

Executive summary :

Authors : Francesco Dionori (Steer Davies Gleave), Simon Ellis (Steer Davies Gleave) and Pietro Crovato (Steer Davies Gleave)

Committees : Transport and tourism

Summary : This note examines what role, if any, the EU's 'structural policies' play in fighting poverty and social exclusion. The latter include regional policy, the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy, the Common Transport Policy and education/culture policies. It also analyses these policies and sectors against the background of the economic and financial crisis.

Authors : Felice ADINOLFI (Common Agricultural Policy), Jésus IBORRA MARTÍN (Common Fisheries Policy), Gonçalo MACEDO (Education, Culture and Youth) and Kathrin Maria RUDOLF (Regional Policy and Transport Policy)

Committees : Fisheries, Regional and cohesion policy, Culture and education, Transport and tourism, Agriculture and rural development

Summary : This study provides a general overview of the implementation of the EU legislation on air passenger rights. After a brief presentation of the relevant legal framework, the study reports on the outcome of a consultation of National Enforcement Bodies and consumer associations from the most relevant EU Member States on the implementation of Regulations 261/2004, 2111/2005, 1107/2006 and Directive 90/314 EEC. The aim is to identify the scope for further action from the EU institutions to enhance the protection of consumer rights in civil aviation.

Executive summary :

Authors : Giorgia Aresu, Diego Artuso and Pietro Crovato (PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory SpA)

Committees : Transport and tourism