WRITTEN QUESTION E-1080/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Cross-border railway between Groningen and Bremen; finding a publicly acceptable and appropriate solution for resumption of the service.
Date: 2002-04-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Germany, Netherlands, cross-border cooperation, provision of services, public works, rail network, trans-European network, transport infrastructure

6.3.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 52 E/33

(2003/C 52 E/042)

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?

Is the Commission also aware that even the solution proposed for 1 March 2002 has not gone ahead
3.
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.

(2003/C 52 E/043)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1080/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 April 2002)

Subject: Cross-border railway between Groningen and Bremen; finding a publicly acceptable and appropri-

ate solution for resumption of the service

Does the Commission agree that the situation regarding the upgrading and operation of the short
1.
cross-border rail link between Nieuweschans and Leer is an example of inadequate cooperation between
EU Member States and even creates the impression that there is no EU whatsoever and that EU efforts to
overcome the traditional backwardness of border areas and obstacles to cross-border connections are being
disregarded?

2.
Does the Commission consider that we can continue to accept a situation in which the short
cross-border link between the Dutch and German railway networks, both of which operate hourly services,
can continue to constitute an unnecessary barrier creating serious problems to the use of the railways for
cross-border traffic as a result of misunderstandings, disputes and conflicting interests?

3.
Does the Commission consider it acceptable that passenger trains are not returning to this line, or
only with a connection that is of significantly poorer quality, because of the need for an extra change, than
it was before the old connection was suspended in 2000?

C 52 E/34

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.3.2003

Does the Commission agree that the most obvious, publicly acceptable, appropriate and affordable
4.
solution is that the existing hourly service between Groningen and Nieuweschans should be extended a
short distance over the border to Leer, instead of having a few special cross-border trains a day or a very
limited shuttle service between Nieuweschans and Leer?

5. What measures does the Commission envisage taking in order to help bring these protracted and
unproductive disputes to an end as soon as possible and ensure that the original objective of the upgrading
work, namely a better and more frequent train connection with as few changes as possible between
Groningen and Bremen can be achieved without delay?

Supplementary joint answer
to Written Questions E-1078/02, E-1079/02 and E-1080/02
given 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
the
regulate regional cross-border-rail services and that service levels deteriorate.
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.

In the case of

The upgrading of the existing Groningen-Leer railway line, subject to co-financing decisions in the
the trans-European transport network (TEN) and the Interreg Programme, serves the
framework of
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.