Mr President, I would like to thank you for allowing me to speak on the second reading of a report that is extremely important for the future of Europe’s railways and for building the European rail system. The last months, under the leadership of Mrs de Palacio, the Commissioner, will certainly have been crucial for the future of rail transport in Europe. Following the conciliation on the Swoboda and Jarzembowsky reports, the opening up, or liberalisation, call it what you will, of networks is now an accepted fact. We still have to overcome the many instances of technical incompatibility and this is, of course, not the easiest thing to do, since these networks were built according to very distinctive technical and industrial characteristics in every individual country. The aim of the draft directive is precisely to ensure the technical and procedural interoperability of cross-border travel between the various 15 European networks. The current situation is extremely complicated. There are about 15 signalling systems, five or six electrical voltage ratings, different loading gauges and different track gauges, different procedures, different railway cultures, and information systems that are not consistent from one rail company to another, thereby compromising efficient rail travel. Although opening up of the roads was easy, because discontinuities could be eliminated instantly, the opening up of the railway is still coming up against a whole raft of technical obstacles. In 1996, an initial directive was adopted which was easier to implement because it concerned a new network of high-speed trains. This now shows us the way forward in terms of methodology. The method adopted was to lay down “technical specifications for interoperability” for each rail subsystem in conjunction with rail companies, infrastructure managers and manufacturers. Every subsystem is covered by a specification, which is then subdivided to cover the individual components which must also be verified as compatible. We are facing a truly enormous task and we have chosen to adopt a procedure inspired by the high-speed rail project, i.e. a gradual procedure. This task will take so much time that it is important in the short term to make what progress we can, with the minimum cost-benefit ratio. The essence of the method involves selecting and evaluating the costs and the benefits of each step forward in terms of interoperability in order to assess its relative importance and either prioritise it or opt to implement it at a later date. Of course, the areas we really must push forward in the first instance are sharing information, procedures, data communications and all procedures involved in cross-border travel. We shall find out at a later stage, through a gradual convergence process, how to deal on a gradual basis with the problem of making tracks, gauges and rolling stock compatible. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that it is up to me to thank all the Members of Parliament who were involved in this report, as considerable work was undertaken at first reading. Parliament voted on a total of 46 amendments which had been tabled. Of these 46 amendments, 33 were accepted as they stood – and at this point I must pay tribute to the Council and the mediation by the Commission – and we can say that this vote will, or should, mark the successful completion of a broadly consensual legislative process. The Council and Commission have accepted many amendments and have enabled Parliament to make a significant shift of emphasis in order to consult rail users and staff, to involve the candidate countries in this work from the very outset and also allowed a certain leeway in terms of exemptions, given that some countries had justifiable concerns on this subject. The Council also made considerable contributions to ensure that the new rolling stock provided both safety and access for passengers with reduced mobility. In short, I feel we have today a sufficiently sound text to be implemented fairly quickly, informed by our experience with the high-speed train project and benefiting from the excellent collaboration between the various parliamentary groups within the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism – and I would like to praise all my fellow committee members, from all the groups – as well as collaboration between the Commission, the Council and Parliament. Personally speaking, I am delighted that we have created such an ambitious document so quickly which today really gets the European rail system underway. Commissioner, there are two other crucial issues which will need to be addressed. The first relates to charging, which today remains the major issue in the turnaround from road to rail, and the second relates to funding of infrastructures, such as intermodal flat wagons, which is needed so that we can really make swift progress in this area.

Political group: PSE