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COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

of 19 December 1984

on strengthening the cooperation of the national railway companies of the Member States in international passenger and goods transport

(84/646/EEC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN

COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 75 thereof,

Having regard to the proposals from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Having regard to the opinions of the Economic and Social Committee (3),

Whereas the Council, in its resolution of 15 December 1981 (4), defined the broad outlines of its railway policy as part of the common transport policy and indicated its interest in better cooperation between railway companies in international traffic;

Whereas the Member States are particularly anxious that the railways should exploit the possibilities afforded them by the Community dimension;

Whereas improved cooperation in international traffic between the railway companies should enable this traffic to develop, allow rationalization of operations and improve the financial state of those companies; this cooperation therefore constitutes progress in the implementation of the common transport policy;

Whereas this improved cooperation requires initiatives from all the railway services (commercial, movement and other specialized services) participating in the provision and sale of services for the international transport of passengers and goods;

Whereas such initiatives should in the long term lead to the pooling of the resources of the companies to ensure an efficient and rational approach to the international traffic of passengers and goods;

Whereas, on the basis of Decisions 75/327/EEC (5), 82/529/EEC (6) and 83/418/EEC (7) and the implementing measures adopted by governments, railway companies have sufficient independence in the management of the international traffic of passengers and goods, which in particular enables them to pursue more ambitious common objectives;

Whereas the railway companies should operate their international traffic along commercial lines; whereas action to attain these objectives is a management responsibility which falls primarily on the railways;

Whereas, while railway companies have taken steps and introduced structures for the promotion of a more effective transport policy, these achievements need to be supplemented by increased cooperation through joint action to eliminate the obstacles to the development of international rail traffic and thus improve both the quality of service and the financial results,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Railway companies of the Member States listed in the Annex, hereafter referred to as the 'companies', are invited to develop, in accordance with the management autonomy accorded to them by Decisions 75/327/EEC, 82/529/EEC and 83/418/EEC, an active policy of cooperation with a view to promoting international transport by rail.

To this end, procedures and instruments based on the common interests of the companies should be implemented, together with a strategy whereby the companies can present themselves on the international transport market as a single carrier and the profitability of the services to be offered to their customers can be assessed in relation to the aggregate costs and revenue in respect of the traffic links concerned, with their efforts being concentrated on profitable traffic.

On the basis of these general principles, the companies are invited to take the measures referred to in Articles 2, 3 and 4.

Article 2

PASSENGER AND GOODS TRANSPORT

1. Marketing

- Development of marketing strategies specifically geared to international traffic by setting up joint bilateral or multilateral inter-network teams composed of commercial or movements-services staff;

- Drawing-up and progressive implementation of medium-term and long-term business plans for each market by groups of routes on a bilateral and multilateral basis;

- Development of joint publicity and sales promotion campaigns in conjunction, if appropriate, with tourist offices and transport agents.

2. Management

- Strengthening of cooperation between commercial and movement services;

- Wider use to be made of the delegation of powers in order to enable vendors of international services to negotiate and conclude speedily special price agreements on behalf of all the companies;

- Promotion of revenue pools or any other new systems of sharing out revenue, bearing in mind the importance for the companies of international transport.

3. Exchange of information

- Development of a better exchange of information among companies concerning the priority to be given to certain types of traffic in view of their profitability and to sales follow-up and utilization of the capacity offered;

- Joint data storage using modern data-processing systems technology and establishment or harmonized procedures for the circulation of basic information.

4. Internal barriers encountered at frontiers

- Development of bilateral and multilateral agreements on:

- the elimination of duplicated technical inspections of wagons and trains at frontiers by introducing mutual trust arrangements,

- the elimination of the duplication of administrative operations within the networks.

- The speeding up of the formalities and inspections required by public authorities by increased use of telegraphic or computerized information services in collaboration with those authorities.

5. Liability arrangements

Preparation of joint proposals for improving, in the framework of international conventions in force, the liability arrangements in the event of loss, damage or delay.

6. Staff

- Attempt at specific training and intensification of the study of foreign languages with a view to greater efficiency in services dealing with international traffic;

- Taking account of existing possibilities and with a view to improving network efficiency and productivity, encouragement of inter-company staff exchanges with a view to better understanding of the languages and methods used by companies in the other Member States. Article 3

PASSENGER TRANSPORT

1. Sales and transport rates

- Introduction of an integrated European tariff independent of national tariffs, having regard to the costs and markets under consideration;

- Harmonization, where appropriate, of:

- existing special tariff conditions (age limits for children; students; families, senior citizens, groups, frequent journeys),

- supplements and other special conditions for travelling on certain trains and on certain peak days;

- Introduction of joint special offers and an attempt to find new commercial solutions, particularly in conjunction with the tourist industry, in the form of fixed all-in rates;

- Production of an international timetable of the inter-city type, for example, giving the schedules of European trains on the main lines and services.

2. Technical organization and services

- Adjustment of the schedules for international services so as to reconcile as far as possible the requirements of international traffic and national traffic (timetabling, frequency and duration of international journeys);

- Improvement of the blueprint for a European rail network so that rapid connections and regular services between the major European cities can gradually be provided;

- Development of uninterrupted subsidiary services in international traffic which best meet the needs of actual and potential customers;

- Improvement and diversification in the provision of night services and car-sleeper trains;

- Improvement of the rail services between the work places of the institutions of the European Communities with due regard to the principles of commercial management of the railways.

Article 4

TRANSPORT OF GOODS

(including combined transport)

1. Sales and transport rates

- Establishment, on a bilateral or multilateral basis, of market groups while adjusting sales structures so as gradually to cover the whole territory of the Member States;

- Development of joint services and sales offices composed of technical and commercial teams and improvement of the operation of existing offices;

- Development of management by product sector and clarification of resulting responsibilities;

- Examination of the possibility of creating, for certain categories of goods, joint branches responsible for administrative tasks and particularly for the provision of services to the companies;

- Extension of tariffs independent of national tariffs, especially by means of common scales, taking account of the costs and markets under consideration;

- Maintenance of some stability in the published tariffs so as to make these tariffs more accessible to consignors;

- Development of the logistical supply by means of a package of measures intended to offer the customer a full service between production and sale of the products transported, including intermodal handling, storage, redistribution of goods and management of stocks;

- Offering the customer guaranteed delivery dates for specialized consignments.

2. Technical organization and services

- Even more extensive application of the opportunities provided by the international Convention concerning the Carriage of Goods by Rail (CIM) with a view to concentrating consignments on the main efficient routes;

- Intensification of multilateral action designed to guide traffic towards these routes in order to speed up deliveries and concentrate flows to a greater extent;

- Encouragement of users with a view to guiding traffic towards these routes;

- Improvement of international consignments by increasing the number of trains moving between marshalling yards within the networks without being reshunted at frontiers;

- Development at technical level, depending on customer demand, of different categories of whole trains or grouped transport, programmed as far as possible. 3. Additional provisions for combined transport

Attempt to create sufficient room for commercial manoeuvre, if necessary by negotiations with the partners concerned, for subsidiaries marketing rail services in respect of combined transport, so as to improve services offered.

Article 5

1. The companies are invited to furnish the Commission and the Council simultaneously:

- by 30 June 1985 at the latest, with an action programme covering two years in response to this recommendation and a report on the measures already accomplished,

- by 31 December 1986 at the latest, with a joint report on the results obtained and the difficulties encountered in the implementation of the programme referred to in the first indent and on other matters of cooperation already under way, in particular the Basel pilot project (Trans info) and the wagon pool.

2. On the basis of the report referred to in the second indent of paragraph 1 the Commission will take the initiatives needed in order for the Council to be able to continue the action already undertaken.

Article 6

The companies are invited to consult the railway companies of the third States concerned in order to ensure the coordinated implementation of this recommendation.

Article 7

This recommendation is addressed to the companies listed in the Annex.

Done at Brussels, 19 December 1984.

For the Council

The President

J. BRUTON

(1) OJ No C 187, 13. 7. 1983, p. 7; OJ No C 191, 16. 7. 1983, p. 10; OJ No C 254, 22. 9. 1983, p. 6.

(2) OJ No C 117, 30. 4. 1984, p. 213.

(3) OJ No C 23, 30. 1. 1984, p. 3; OJ No C 35, 9. 2. 1984, p. 24; OJ No C 103, 16. 4. 1984, p. 6.

(4) OJ No C 157, 22. 6. 1982, p. 1.

(5) OJ No L 152, 12. 6. 1975, p. 3.

(6) OJ No L 234, 9. 8. 1982, p. 5.

(7) OJ No L 237, 25. 7. 1983, p. 32.