WRITTEN QUESTION E-1079/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 April 2002)

Subject: Cross-border railway between Groningen and Bremen; continuing failure to resume the service because of conflicting interests

1. Can the Commission confirm that the fact that the train service between Nieuweschans in the Netherlands and Leer in Germany following replacement of the track and despite the announcements made in the German Railways Kursbuch (line 397 or H5) and in the Dutch Railways Spoerboekje (line 520 or 12int) has still not been resumed because of an endless series of disputes about invitations to tender? First of all it was evident that the Deutsche Bahn (DB) no longer had any interest, subsequently the Land of Lower Saxony excluded the Dutch company NoordNed which operates an hourly service between Groningen and Nieuweschans and could easily have continued on to Leer, from participating. After that the price quoted by Nordwestbahn, the regional operator in Lower Saxony for seven trains a day between Groningen and Leer was considered too high. Finally, the DB were nonetheless forced to resume the service in some way because of the existing concession.

2. Can the Commission also confirm that the end result of the situation described in paragraph 1 above has not been achieved, firstly because DB wanted to subcontract the service to NoordNed but subsequently the two companies failed to agree on the financial terms, with the result that on 1 March 2002 the West Lower Saxony DB Regiobahn regional railway was to operate a short shuttle service between Leer in Germany and the Dutch border town of Nieuweschans which is to be used as the connecting station?

3. Is the Commission also aware that even the solution proposed for 1 March 2002 has not gone ahead because the West Lower Saxony DB Regiobahn is not a recognised operator in the Netherlands which means that for the time being it is not authorised to run trains on the 1200 km of track in Netherlands territory and that it is not easy to cross to the other side of the platform because of the arrangement of the tracks at Nieuweschans station?

Source: Het Openbaar Vervoer / Railnieuws, Volume 45 No 522, March 2002. rail@wanadoo.nl.

Supplementary joint answerto Written Questions E-1078/02, E-1079/02 and E-1080/02given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(27 September 2002)

The Commission has been informed by the relevant German and Dutch authorities that the upgrading of the Groningen-Leer railway line has been completed, and that currently three trains in each direction are being operated, with a change-over in Nieuweschans (NL) at the Dutch-German border. By the end of 2002, it is foreseen to increase traffic to seven direct-trains per direction.

The public authorities have organised a public tender for the service in 1999/2000. The contract has been rewarded to Noordned for the domestic services in Groningen. For the cross-border service various difficulties regarding e.g. rolling stock and certified staff, have evolved before it was possible to actually contract the service with the railway undertaking Noordned and Dbregio.

The Organisation, gestion, marketing (OGM) study(1) the Commission launched to assess the actual and potential market for international rail passenger services, showed that public authorities often fail to regulate regional cross-border-rail services and that service levels deteriorate. In the case of the Groningen-Leer service, the public authorities on both sides of the border actually decided to take action to contract regional-cross border rail services and successfully implemented this. Another example of a successful re-opening of a cross-border link is the service operated between Gronau (D) and Enschede (NL), for which the Interreg program provided funds to upgrade the railway line. As announced in the Communication Towards an integrated European railway area(2), the Commission will take action to improve cross-border rail transport and it will propose a regulation for rail passenger rights.

The upgrading of the existing Groningen-Leer railway line, subject to co-financing decisions in the framework of the trans-European transport network (TEN) and the Interreg Programme, serves the improvement of cross-borders rail services in the short and medium term. The construction of a magnetic levitation line between Amsterdam-Groningen-Bremen and Hamburg has not been considered in the framework of the trans-European transport network so far; any such proposal would have to be substantiated by a sound demonstration of its technical, economic and financial viability.

The relevant national authorities have confirmed vis-à-vis the Commission that the upgrading project has been carried out in accordance with the original objectives. As far as the transport TEN contribution is concerned, the Commission plans to formally close the funding decision in autumn 2002, following a final technical and financial control.

The Commission is not aware of any technical factors that could impede the immediate opening of services on the line.

(1) See http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/rail/library/ogm-report.pdf.

(2) COM(2002) 18 final.