WRITTEN QUESTION E-0585/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 February 2003)

Subject: Progress towards standardisation and interchangeability of high-speed trains in Europe

1. How can the Commission be certain that the French LGV-Est, which in 2006 will link Paris to Nancy, Metz and Strasbourg, can, as planned, be used in cross-border services not only with modernised French TGV PDSE, but also with German ICE, equipment?

2. How can the Commission be certain that the cross-border Perpignan-Figueres route via the Pertuis tunnel, which is due to be opened in 2006, can be used both by variants of the French TGV and the Spanish Velaro/AVE S 103 and Talgo 350?

3. How are the technical specifications of body-tilt coaches, axle drives, couplings, platform height and maximum speed of high-speed trains geared to each other in such a way that, provided they are equipped for use with different voltages, they can run on all the high-speed lines in Europe?

4. Are the recently designed Spanish Talgo 350 and French Elisa/Automotrice à Grande Vitesse the first trains to meet the standards of complete interchangeability and the highest safety standards, or is this only true of trains of the next, or a still later, generation?

5. How is it to be achieved that tracks and rolling stock throughout Europe will in the short term meet the highest safety standards and be fully interchangeable and accessible? What is the role in this context of the SNCF, DB and Trenitalia High Speed Europe project, which claims to be working towards one single type of high-speed train? Why are other European countries with high-speed trains (Spain, Sweden) not involved in it?

6. By what date does the Commission expect the results of the project referred to in point 5 to be available as regards existing equipment, and by what date as regards new equipment?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(25 April 2003)

As the Commission indicated in its answers to Written Questions E-0473/03(1), E-0580/03(2), E-0583/03(3) and E-0584/03(4) by the Honourable Member, the process of formulating Community rules began on the basis of Council Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996 on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system(5) and Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system(6). These Directives introduced a procedure for adopting technical specifications for interoperability (TSIs). The first generation of TSIs for the high-speed system was adopted by the Commission on 30 May 2002 and has applied to all new infrastructure and rolling stock projects since 1 December 2002. In certain circumstances, these TSIs also apply to upgrading and renewal projects.

Accordingly, the network should not present any technical barriers to the various track and rolling stock the Honourable Member mentions, due to come into service as of 2006.

The aim of the High Speed Europe project would appear to be for the undertakings taking part to come up with a common set of specifications with a view to ordering a new generation of high-speed trains. If this is so, this project would contribute to the objectives of interoperability and a single market set by the EC Treaty. However, the Commission does not yet have the information with which to answer the Honourable Member's questions regarding the project; moreover, that information is of a commercial nature.

(1) See page 134.

(2) See page 149.

(3) See page 150.

(4) See page 151.

(5) OJ L 235, 17.9.1996.

(6) OJ L 110, 20.4.2001.