Railway Markets

Towards a European Network for a Competitive Rail Freight

Further to its Communication on a rail network giving priority to freight (COM(2007) 608) and taking stock of several initiatives aiming at building-up efficient international rail freight corridors, the Commission proposes a new regulation to create a European rail freight oriented network. This proposal would request Member States to create rail freight corridors  based on "business cases" to meet three challenges concerning:

• the European integration of rail infrastructures by strengthening coordination between infrastructure managers on investment and operational matters;

• the balance between passenger and freight traffic on major international axes by giving adequate capacity and priority to freight trains and making capacity allocation and traffic management more and more driven by socio-economic considerations as opposed to mere political reasoning;

• the intermodality between rail and other transport modes by developing and making access to and use of freight terminals more efficient.

Proposal for a regulation on the creation of a European network for a competitive rail freight		Press release
Summary of the Impact Assessment		Memo
Impact Assessment		Questions / Answers
Study carried out by Price Waterhouse and NEA (on the basis of UIC data)
Results of the public consultation on the creation of a European rail freight-oriented network
Final report of the Strategic group of experts