2009-02-05
According to a draft Commission regulation (COD (2008) 0247) the European Commission intends to guarantee that priority is given to freight trains over passenger trains on key international corridors in Europe. The European Passengers’ Federation (EPF), an association grouping rail passengers in 16 European states, strongly rejects this proposal.
EPF and its constituent members in a number of member states are concerned that this could damage the performance and reliability of passenger services on key routes.
As opposed to freight trains, a slight delay of a passenger train – 5 minutes – can cause a much larger delay for the customer at his final destination. This is especially likely where the passenger’s journey involves making a connection, which may not be held for a late-running train.
EPF also fears the plans of the EC might lead to slower passenger trains. Currently, passenger trains are generally faster than freight trains. If passenger trains are obliged to adjust their speeds to fit in with priority freight services journey times might increase by 20-20%. The first victims could be intercity trains, now generally running with speeds of 160 – 200 km/h. High speed trains are less likely to be affected since they often run on separate tracks.
In sections with bottlenecks – where there is insufficient capacity on the tracks – the Commission’s proposal to ‘rebalance’ the situation by giving priority to freight trains may cause passenger trains to be refused access. This is because the freight trains will be given priority.
Passenger organisations throughout Europe are demanding that passenger trains must be given priority over freight services on routes where they are obliged to share the same tracks. EPF is committed to the development of sustainable transport and welcomes the European Commission’s interest in improving the quality of freight services. This means investing in new capacity – dedicated freight corridors, improved traffic management systems and freight loops to tackle bottlenecks. This cannot be done on the cheap. Europe must invest in its rail network, making rail freight more competitive whilst continuing to work for the improvement of passenger services that can cope with the growing demand for rail travel.