WRITTEN QUESTION E-1079/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Cross-border railway between Groningen and Bremen; continuing failure to resume the service because of conflicting interests.
Date: 2002-04-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Germany, Netherlands, award of contract, cross-border transport, exchange of information, provision of services, rail transport, transport infrastructure

14.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 277 E/145

(2002/C 277 E/164)

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 1 200 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.

(2002/C 277 E/165)

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?