Top Stories from the European Parliament 2004-2009

From January 2010, train passengers travelling from one EU country to another can expect to see more rail companies competing on these international connections.  In September 2007, the European Parliament adopted legislation to enable Europe's railway companies to compete across borders, to guarantee basic passenger rights and to ensure that train drivers are fully qualified.

After three years' arduous negotiations among MEPs and between Parliament and the Council of transport ministers on three related pieces of legislation, Parliament advocated more cross-border competition, and also won a set of basic rights for rail users, including compensation for delays to international services. A decision on whether to open up Member States' domestic rail networks to competition from abroad as well is to be taken later, in the light of market developments.

Freedom to supply international rail services

From 2010, operators will be free to supply international rail passenger services across borders within the EU (so Thalys and Eurostar could get competitors), passengers on all lines will be entitled to minimum service quality standards and a European licence will qualify train drivers to use any EU Member State's network.

The European Commission will review how the rules are going in 2012, and assess then whether to propose extending liberalisation to domestic networks.

Although international passenger rail services will be opened to cross-border competition, domestic ones will not. In a vote in second reading in January 2007, the full Parliament rejected the advice of its Transport Committee and decided not to set a date for the liberalisation of national rail services. 

Passenger rights

From 2009, when the EU passenger rights regulation takes effect, all rail passengers, international and domestic, will have basic rights, such as company liability for luggage and on transport for people with reduced mobility. These rights were originally proposed only for international passengers, but, after tough negotiations with the Council, MEPs succeeded in also extending them to domestic ones.

Compensation rules

The regulation lays down ground rules for protecting rail passenger rights similar to EU arrangements already in place for air passengers.

On the railways, compensation for delays for which the railway company is responsible on cross-border services will be 25% of the fare for a delay of one hour or more and 50% for a delay of two hours or more.

If the delay exceeds one hour, and with certain restrictions on practicality, passengers must also be offered free refreshments and, if needed, hotel accommodation or transport from a stranded train.

Eventually, these rules will also apply to all intercity services. However, Member States may exclude domestic services from the compensation rules for up to 15 years and urban, suburban and regional services indefinitely.  Rapporteur Dirk Sterckx (ALDE, BE) was happy to have "made a difference where it mattered, not between international and national traffic, but between long-distance and local traffic."

Easier access for disabled people and cyclists

Companies must facilitate access to stations and platforms for people with disabilities or with reduced mobility, and remove all obstacles to getting on, off, or remaining on board. In unstaffed stations, companies "must take all reasonable measures" to ensure their access to rail transport.

Passengers must also be permitted to take bicycles on trains, provided that the rolling stock permits it.

EU train driver's licence

All train drivers will have to hold a certificate showing that they meet minimum educational and fitness requirements and professional skills. This should enhance safety on EU railways, while making it easier for train drivers to work in another EU country. These requirements will not apply to other train staff at first, but MEPs won an undertaking that the Commission will look into this within one year of the directive's entry into force and, if necessary, present a new proposal to include staff performing safety-critical tasks. 

Safety and interoperability

To be able to cross a border, trains must meet the safety rules of Member States on both sides. These rules sometimes conflict - e.g. in Italy fire extinguishers on trains must contain CO2 powder and no foam, while Austria requires the reverse. Rail companies wanting to supply international services have traditionally had to undergo approval procedures for their rolling stock in each Member State which can take years.

In July 2008, Parliament approved an agreement with the Council of Ministers on EU-wide approval of different types of rolling stock, which will amend the Rail safety Directive (2004/49/EC) to ensure that any rolling stock already approved for use in one Member State must be accepted in the others. This would cut red tape and should accelerate the growth of rail transport in Europe. Some additional national safety requirements will still be possible, but within clearly defined limits.

Further to a request from MEPs, heritage, museum and tourist railways will be exempted from the directive.

MEP views

Rapporteur Georg Jarzembowski (EPP-ED, DE) was happy that the railway package would "open the way to more offers by a wide variety of railway undertakings, to the benefit of the customers. If that proves successful, we have a chance to revitalise cross-border rail transport. And (...) we will then also have an opportunity to reduce environmental pollution within the European Union."

French Socialist MEP Gilles Savary, who was the rapporteur on the rail driver's licence, made it clear that he "wished to say ‘yes’ to liberalisation, provided that it is regulated and that public services are preserved."  His PES colleague Boguslaw Liberadzki from Poland stressed that "liberalisation is the right approach, though there is something of a difference between my Group’s position on this and, for example, (the ALDE position). I would like to make it quite clear that this package forms a whole".

Anne Jensen (ALDE, DK) commented that her group had always supported the liberalisation of the railways, saying that it "strengthened rail transport, as regards both passenger transport and freight transport. The best tools for this are liberalisation and freer competition, which causes train companies to take a greater interest in the wishes of customers."

Robert Zile (UEN) from Latvia regretted that some EU countries, including his own, "have no international passenger rail connection with EU countries at all and that the railway package therefore does not operate across the whole of the enlarged European Union." The Greens/EFA welcomed the outcome of the long procedure. Italian MEP Sepp Kusstatscher said that "Passengers on European railways will now gain stronger rights, both domestically and internationally."

The GUE/NGL group was less than happy with the opening up of the rail networks. Said Dutch MEP Erik Meijer: "This starts with international freight transport, but ultimately encompasses all rail traffic including domestic passenger traffic. This means that the poorer working conditions in freight transport by road and air also become the norm in rail transport. We do not agree that competition is a better answer than good cooperation between national railway undertakings to the problems in international freight transport or even passenger transport. And we shall not be voting for these proposals in the third reading. "

Equally unhappy was Michael Natrass (IND/DEM, UK), but for a different reason: "Harmonisation of railways across 27 states has very little attraction to the UK. Competition may be good for commerce, but you can leave us out, as we will deal with the economics of running our own service." Though the Dutch MEP Johannes Blokland - of the same group - felt the railway package represented "a constructive step towards further completion of the European rail transport market."