Restrictions/prohibitions regarding railway noise
1.4.2014
Question for written answer E-004030-14
to the Commission
Rule 117
Werner Langen (PPE)
According to a report by railway legal expert Prof. Dr Urs Kramer which was commissioned by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Environment, restrictions on speed and access in the Middle Rhine Valley are compatible with EC law.
In the light of this, the Commission is asked to answer the following:
- 1.Is a general ban on freight train operations during a particular period, such as at night, permissible under EC law? What restrictions/measures would determine the period(s) involved?
- 2.Is a ban on fast trains — and consequently on trains which make more than a reasonable amount of noise — permissible at certain times during the night, particularly considering the need to safeguard the prohibition of discrimination, in this case with regard to slower trains which may continue to be operated?
- 3.Does the Commission know whether it would be possible to impose an overall speed limit for freight trains in certain areas, such as the Middle Rhine Valley? It would be instructive to know the extent to which such a rule would be restricted by the proportionality principle, which is the yardstick here.
- 4.Is it right that, according to EU legislation on speed and operating restrictions with a view to reducing railway noise, a judgment on prohibitions and restrictions should be delivered to the authorities with regard to the legal consequences involved?