Webinar: European Railways. How to get from a patchwork to a network?
Channel: Investigate Europe
Date: 2021-11-26

This webinar is a follow-up to the investigation: "Derailed — The desolate state of European railways". Read its findings here: https://www.investigate-europe.eu/en/2021/derailed-europe-railway/

Panelists:

- Jon Worth; Rail expert and political consultant
- Kristian Schmidt, European Commission (Director for Land Transport)
- Pio Guido; EU Agency for Railways
- Tobias Holle; Fridays for Future Germany 
- Tom Buchhold, FlixMobility

Moderation: Maria Maggiore, IE Reporter and Trains Investigation Co-Lead


Table of contents:

00:00 Introduction
03:04 Animation

06:45 Why does taking trains make sense from the climate action perspective?
A: Jon Worth, Rail expert & political consultant 

09:25 Does the future belong to the travel by bus or by train?
A: Tom Buchhold, FlixMobility:

13:29 In the light of the Green New Deal, what still has to be done in terms of European infrastructure?
A: Kristian Schmidt, EU Commission

19:09 What does the situation of trains interoperability in Europe looks like?
A: Pio Guido, EU Agency for Railways

24:47 What happened with the common signalisation system (ERTMS)?
A: Pio Guido

29:05 Is ERTMS still a priority also on local connections, or is it just a utopia?
A: Kristian Schmidt

33:34 Is the EU Commission going to regulate the giant national companies who stifle the competition?
A: Kristian Schmidt

36:10 Who is responsible for the fragmentation of the European railways network?
A: Jon Worth

40:26 Response to Jon Worth: the European Commission could do more than just naming and shaming Member States for the current situation.
A: Kristian Schmidt

41:14 What would be the concrete proposals in the European Commission's upcoming action plan?
A: Kristian Schmidt

43:29 Can you give us examples of how difficult it is to penetrate national markets for a private company that runs trains, and talk about access fees?
A: Tom Buchhold

47:24 Will the EU Commission try to regulate the problem of access fees (for companies to enter national markets) or at least make the system more transparent?
A: Kristian Schmidt

54:24 Have you experienced in your work difficulties connected to splitting railway companies into different parts - like infrastructure and operation? It's a policy introduced by the EU that hasn't proven very successful (eg. in Spain, Portugal).
A: Pio Guido

57:20 Do you share an opinion that if the EU Commission knew about all consequences of the separation of rail infrastructure and operation (initially meant to break national monopolies 20 years ago), they would act differently?
A: Kristian Schmidt

59:23 What is your position on the issue of separation, and do you agree that the Swiss model is not the one to follow by Europe?
A: Jon Worth
 
1:00:46 On the question of how affordable rail services are in Switzerland
A: Tom Buchhold

1:01:59 Tobias Holle, Fridays For Future
Welcome to the panel

1:03:15 As a representative of the climate movement, what do we need to get people to choose train over other means of transportation?
A: Tobias Holle

1:06:58 Does the European Commission plan to introduce a mandatory, unified ticketing system for Europe?
A: Kristian Schmidt

1:11:08 On the experience of FlixMobility with ticketing systems, and the idea of one common platform to buy tickets.
A: Tom Buchhold

1:13:44 On the ticketing system as a public service
Tobias Holle

1:15:24 Confrontation with FlixBus. More on booking cross-border connections and European timetables.
Jon Worth

1:19:35 There should be a green light to subsidise connection between vital connections (eg. between Lisbon and Madrid)? What is your opinion on PSOs: Public Service Obligations?
A: Kristian Schmidt

1:21:18 Is eliminating subsidies for the road development a way to reduce obstacles for train subsidies?
A: Kristian Schmidt

1:24:00 Follow up on Kristian Schmidt's statement: "We need to make sure not to include unnecessary PSOs"
Tom Buchhold

1:26:28 On subsidies for transport
Jon Worth

1:30:56 Wouldn't it be better to move money from big scale projects (i.e. corridors, like the Brenner tunnel) towards connections between capitals, night trains, network development?
A: Pio Guido

1:33:06 On the future of corridors.
A: Kristian Schmidt