EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/425

(2004/C 78 E/0445)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2779/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(17 September 2003)

Subject: Increase in the volume of mail and freight transported by rail in Germany and measures to promote a similar increase in other Member States

1. Is the Commission aware that in various Member States the carriage of large quantities of mail over long distances by rail has been or is being terminated, that special mail trains are being scrapped and replaced by trucks, but that in Germany Deutsche Post, which hitherto has sent mail by rail only between Hamburg and Munich, now intends to use the same method of transport between Cologne and Berlin and on other routes, partly because tolls are being introduced for the use of motorways by trucks?

2. Is the Commission also aware that in some Member States national railway companies have contracted out complementary road haulage operations (such as those formerly performed in the Netherlands by Van Gend en Loos) to other companies, but that in Germany Deutsche Bahn now owns the road haulage companies Stinnes Logistics and Schenker, which coordinate their operations with DB-cargo, while the latter provides the rail freight services and, after having taken over this transport in the Netherlands and Denmark, will in future be operating under the name Railion?

3. Are these developments in Germany a promising contribution to the Commission's efforts to restore rail's share of the freight market, which has fallen sharply in the recent past, and to permanently increase it?

4. What will the Commission do to encourage emulation in other Member States of the German examples, insofar as they strengthen the position of the railways in the transportation of mail and freight? What obstacles still exist to such emulation and how will they be eliminated?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(4 November 2003)

The Commission monitors closely the situation of the railway market as prescribed by Directive 2001/12/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 amending Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community's railways (1). It welcomes the success stories like the one mentioned by the Honourable Member, as it regrets decisions of railway undertakings to discontinue services such as international passenger services or postal services. Recent success stories in freight are due to major changes which occurred in the approach by the railway undertakings of the freight market, now acting with a view of the global transport chain and as a business. This is the reason why the Commission pursues a policy of modernising the regulatory framework to enable railway undertakings to provide competitive national and international rail freight services. The Commission is satisfied to see this policy to bear fruit in some Member States and particularly in those having already created new competitive conditions like Germany and the Netherlands.

It seems to be a logical consequence of current demand patterns and customer requirements that railway undertakings develop European business strategies that integrate logistical services in the transport offer to the customers. It is their primary responsibility.

The Commission may only support this development through the establishment of a common European regulatory framework for non-discriminatory market access, safety rules and interoperability requirements. Additionally, Community funds contribute to the development of rail infrastructure needed to provide competitive and customer-oriented rail services, particularly on the trans-European rail network.

(1) OJ L 75, 15.3.2001.