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DOCUMENTS "COM"
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Vol.1981/0182

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»
COW!HON
OFTHE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
GeneralSecretariatCOM(81)597 final
Brussels,12October1981
FOROFFICIAuUSEONL'r
COMMUNICATION FROMTHECOMMISSION TOTHECOUNCIL
RequestfortheunanimousassentoftheCouncilunderArticle54,
paragraph 2oftheECSCTreatyonthepartialfinancingofaproject
designedtoprovidespecialized railwaywagonsforthetransportof
coalandsteel
C0MC81)597final

COMMISSION OPTHE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate-General
CreditandInvestments ForOfficialUseOnly
NotetotheCouncil
Subject;RequestfortheunanimousassentoftheCouncilunderArticle54,
paragraph 2oftheECSCTreatyonthepartialfinancingofa
projectdesignedtoprovidespecialised railwaywaggonsfor
thetransportofcoalandsteel.
Loanrecruested Î£30millions(approx.735millionECU)
Borrower sBritishRailwaysBoard
TheBritishRailwaysBoardisapublicauthorityintheUKproviding
anintegratedrailwayservice.Itsmainactivitiesaretheprovisionofa
comprehensive passengerserviceandamixedfreighttransportation service.
Otheractivitiessuchasengineering ,carferries,hotelsand
propertysupportthesetwomainareasofoperation.
Projectdescription
Coal-waggons
Specialised waggonshave"beendevelopedtoimprovetheefficiency
ofcoaltransportation "betweencoalninesandelectricity powerstations
usingasystemreferredtoas"Merry-go-round;!.
Thissystemenvisagesatraincomprisedentirelyofsuchwaggons
capableofbeingloadedordischargedwithouttheneedtostopthetrain,
thusavoidingthecostsofwaggonhandlingatbothmineandpowerstation,
andincreasingutilisationofthewaggons.Atthemine,specialloading
equipmentisusedtofilleach-waggonasittravelsslowlythroughthe
mine.Atthepowerstationeachwaggondischargesitsloadintounder­
groundbunkersasittravelspastthepowerstation.'
Theneedforsuch,waggonsisexpectedtoincreasefromacapacity
of57mtonnesin1979to64.5mtonnesby1982.Tomeetthisneedthe
BritishRailwaysBoardisconstructing 12^6ofthesewaggonsintheperiod
toend19o1atatotalcostof£21million.

SteelWaggons
Specialised waggonshavebeendevelopedspecifically forthe
transportofsemi-finished steelbetweenworks.
« ·.
Developments withintheUKsteelindustrywherebasicsteelproducts
apemadeatoneplantandthentransferredtoanotherforfinishingmeans
thatinter-works movementswillformanincreasingproportionofEritish
Railwaysbusinesswiththesteelindustry.
Underthepresenttransportarrangementsloadedsteelwaggons 'are
storeduntilsufficientareavailabletojustifyanoptimaltrainload.
Thenewwaggonsare.beingdevelopedspecifically forsteeltransportation
andwillhaveadvancedbrakingsystems.Thenewwaggonsarecapableofbeing
incorporated intoexistingmixedfreightsystems.Theadvantagesto
BritishRailwaysaregreaterflexibility ,lowerhandlingcostsandahigher
utilisation ,althoughthesearelargelyoffsetbyhigherconstruction costs
forthespecialised waggons.
Consequently BritishRailwaysareconstructing 2323ofthese
specialised waggonsintheperiodto31December1981atatotalcostof
£43million.
Communityaspectsofcoalandsteeltransport
Thecoalandsteeli^aggonshavebeendevelopedspecifically to
meettheneedsoftheUKECSCindustriesandthemarketstheyserve.
TheywillthereforebeusedexclusivelyforthecarriageofCommunity
coalandsteelproduction .
Justification foraloanunderArticle5/}(2)oftheECSCTreaty
Theseinvestmentsincoaland~teelvjaggonsarenecessarytcprovide
themostefficientandcosteffectiveservicetoboththecoalandsteel
industries .
Forthecoalindustrythealternativetothisinvestmentwould
involvesubstantial investmentatbothpitheadandpowerstationon
railwaymarshallingyardsandadditionalcoalstorageandhandlingfacilities .
Thecontinuoususeofthetrainsmeansagreaterutilisation andlowerunit
costsforthetransportofcoal...BritishRailwayshaveestimatedthatthe
currentbenefittothecoalindustryisanaveragereductionintransport
costsof26.9pencepertonne.
2258/81en

-3-
Forthesteelindustrytherewillbeonlyamarginalbenefitinterms
oftransportcostpertonnebecausethehighercapitalcostsofthewaggons
willlargelyoffsetthecostreductionstoBritishRailwaysofoperating
moreefficiently .Themainbenefitstothesteelindvstrywillbolovrer
investmentsinstockson\n.r;gonzawaitingshipment,improveddelivery
.timesandgreaterflexibilityinplanningtheirproduction programmes .
Theinvestmentsincoalandsteelwaggonsareessentialtoboth
thecoalandsteelindustriesandbyincreasingtheirefficiency and
reducingtheiroperatingcoststheymeettheobjectivesofArticle54(2)of
theECSCTreaty.Theprojectsarethereforerecommendedforaloanunder
thatarticleoftheTreaty.
Thecapitalcostsoftheinvestmentstotal£64millionanditis
proposedtograntaloanof230milliontotheBritishRailwaysBoardfor
theseprojects.
2258/81en