Overview

Rail transport: a fascinating phenomenon

Much has been written about railways, and that's fully understandable and justified. It is a phenomenon that has a rich, diverse history and continues to determine in its current form many different aspects of our daily life.

The current railways are the results of a long and fascinating development that started in the first half of the 19th century with the construction of the first railway link between Stockton and Darlington in England. It has continued to evolve into the complex rail system as we know it nowadays. As railways played a crucial role in the development of national economies, the solutions adopted for technological and organizational problems, which arose over the years, primarily met national requirements. This has led to a sector with many features in common between national systems but also differences that led up to a situation where the European railway systems and the rail markets merely consist of a patchwork of badly interconnected national systems. 

The basic principle of rail transport is the same everywhere: transport of goods or passengers over iron rails, but in Europe, many different solutions have been elaborated to solve technical problems, such as different gauge widths; different systems for the supply of electrical current; differences in maximum axle loads for wagons and locomotives; major differences in the organization of the rail traffic management systems; differences in requirements for staff and so on. Running train services from one Member State to another is possible, but the technical differences and lack of interoperability between the national rail systems account for significant delays at border crossings and therefore extra costs, which has made this mode of transport less competitive than transport by road for example.

The involvement of the public authorities in the rail system of the Member States has been important for several, historical reasons. Railways were a strategic asset for the industrial and economical development of Member States, and played a crucial role in the conflicts that split Europe for so many years. Railways were considered almost as being part of the State itself. This state involvement however had, and still has, its price for the taxpayers in each Member State. State aids and other public contributions to the sector accounted for almost 50 billion € in 2005 in the EU.

The increasing transport demands as a result of the creation of the internal market with its four fundamental freedoms provided for in the Treaty, as well as the increasing shortage in adequate transport supply due to major bottlenecks in the European infrastructure made it necessary to integrate the rail systems of the Member States into one European rail system. 

Legislative measures for the rail sector at EU level were necessary to help achieve the goals and objectives as set out in the Treaty of Rome and the Common Transport Policy. On that basis, several Regulations and Directives have been adopted by the Council which contain detailed provisions on the opening of the markets for rail transport of freight and passengers; on the interoperability of high-speed and conventional rail systems; on the conditions under which state aids can be granted and public service obligations and contracts can be concluded; on the access to the networks, and so on.

These internet pages provide you with information on different aspects of the developments in the rail sector. These pages will be regularly updated, so it will be useful to return to the pages at regular intervals.