European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community's railways (COM(2004)0139 - C6-0001/2004 - 2004/0047(COD))
Date: 2005-09-28
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: common transport policy, rail transport, trans-European network

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Official Journal of the European Union

21.9.2006

Wednesday, 28 September 2005

P6_TA(2005)0354

Development of the Community's railways ***I

European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a directive of the European Parlia-
ment and of the Council amending Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the
Community's railways (COM(2004)0139 — C6-0001/2004 — 2004/0047(COD))

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission proposal

to the European Parliament and the Council

(COM(2004)0139) (1),

— having regard to Articles 251(2) and 71 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission

submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6-0001/2004),

— having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6-0143/2005),

1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend the proposal
substantially or replace it with another text;

3.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

(1) Not yet published in OJ.

P6_TC1-COD(2004)0047

Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 28 September 2005 with a view to
the adoption of Directive 2005/…/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending
Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community's railways and amending
Directive 2001/14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges
for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 71 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3),

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty (4),

(1) OJ C …, …, p. ….
(2) OJ C 221, 8.9.2005, p. 56.
(3) OJ C 71, 22.3.2005, p. 26.
(4) Position of the European Parliament of 28.9.2005.

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Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community's railways (1)
was designed to facilitate the adaptation of the Community's railways to the requirements of the
single market and to improve their efficiency.

In its White Paper European transport policy for 2010: time to decide (2), the Commission announced its
intention to continue building the internal market in rail services by proposing to open up the
market in international passenger services.

On 23 October 2003, the European Parliament adopted an amendment (3) calling for the opening up
to competition of all national and international rail passenger services by 1 January 2008. The
Commission stated on that occasion that it intended to present a specific proposal which dovetailed
with the existing legislation on public service contracts as well as measures to protect the rights of
passengers on international services.

International rail services currently present a very contrasting picture. Long-distance services (night
trains) are in difficulty and several of them have recently been withdrawn by the railway undertak-
ings concerned to limit losses. The market for international high-speed services, on the other hand,
has seen a sharp increase in traffic and will continue its vigorous development with the doubling
and interconnection of the trans-European high-speed network by 2010. Nevertheless, there is
strong competitive pressure from low-cost airlines in both cases and it is essential to stimulate new
initiatives by promoting competition between railway undertakings.

It would not be possible to open up the market in passenger services without detailed provisions
on infrastructure access, substantial progress on interoperability and a strict framework for rail
safety at national and European level. All of these elements are now in place following the transposi-
tion of Directives 2001/12/EC (4), 2001/13/EC (5), 2001/14/EC (6) and 2004/49/EC (7). This new
institutional framework must be supported by established, consolidated practice by the proposed
date for opening up the networks for passenger services. As these European Community frame-
work directives must be transposed into national
international
passenger networks should be opened up by 2008 and all other forms of passenger service by
2012.

law by 2006 at the latest,

(6) Member States should remain free to anticipate the grant of access rights to railway undertak-
ings and international groupings for national and international passenger transport services. The
use of such rights may temporarily be confined to railway undertakings, and their directly and
indirectly controlled subsidiaries, that hold a licence in the Member States where analogous condi-
tions for access to the railway infrastructure apply.

(7)

The number of railway services without intermediate stops is very limited. In the case of journeys
with intermediate stops, it is essential to authorise new entrants to pick up and set down passengers
along the route in order to ensure that such operations have a realistic profitability threshold and to
avoid placing potential competitors in an unfavourable situation compared with the existing opera-
tors, which have the right to pick up and set down passengers along the route.

(1) OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 25. Directive as last amended by the Act of Accession of 2003.
(2) COM(2001)0370.
(3) OJ C 82 E, 1.4.2004, p. 502.
(4) Directive 2001/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 amending Council Directive

91/440/EEC (OJ L 75, 15.3.2001, p. 1).

(5) Directive 2001/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 amending Council Directive
95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings (OJ L 75, 15.3.2001, p. 26). Directive as last amended by Directive
2004/49/EC (OJ L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 44).

(6) Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of railway infra-
structure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (OJ L 75, 15.3.2001, p.
29). Directive as last amended by Directive 2004/49/EC.

(7) Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on safety on the Commu-
nity's railways and amending Council Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive
2001/14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway
infrastructure and safety certification.

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(8)

Council Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 of 26 June 1969 on action by Member States concerning the
obligations inherent in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and inland
waterway (1) authorises Member States and local authorities to award public service contracts. These
contracts may contain exclusive rights to operate certain services. It is therefore necessary to ensure
that the provisions of this Regulation are consistent with the principle of opening up passenger
services to competition. On 26 July 2000 the Commission presented a proposal for a regulation of
the European Parliament and of the Council on action by Member States concerning public service
requirements and the award of public service contracts in passenger transport by rail, road and
inland waterway (2) to replace Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69. The principal aim of this text is to
introduce controlled competition in the award of public service contracts. The European Parliament
adopted a position on this proposal at first reading on 14 November 2001 (3). However, the
Council has not yet adopted a common position, so that it has not been possible for the legislative
procedure to continue.

(9)

In order to create specialised infrastructure, such as high-speed railway lines, railway undertak-
ings require planning and legal certainty commensurate with the substantial long-term invest-
ment involved. It should therefore be possible for such undertakings normally to conclude frame-
work agreements with a term of 10 years. Directive 2001/14/EC should be amended accordingly.

(10) The application of this Directive should be evaluated on the basis of two reports to be presented by
the Commission two years after the dates of opening up the market in international and national
passenger services, respectively. These reports should include first evaluations by the Commission
of the impact of the first and second railway packages on public service quality standards, social
standards of employees and environmental performance. Furthermore the Commission should
present an impact assessment on the opening of the networks for national passenger services by
31 December 2005.

(11)

Since the objective of the action to be taken, namely the development of the Community's railways,
cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States given the need to ensure fair and non-discrimi-
natory conditions of access to infrastructure and take account of the obviously international dimen-
sion of the way in which important parts of the rail networks operate, and can therefore, by reason of
the need for co-ordinated transnational action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community
may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the
Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive
does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(12) Directives 91/440/EEC and 2001/14/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Directive 91/440/EEC is hereby amended as follows:

1) The fourth indent of Article 3 is deleted.

2) The following indent is inserted in Article 3 after the fifth indent:

‘— international passenger service shall mean passenger services where the train crosses at least one
border of a Member State; the train may be joined and/or split, and the different sections may have
different origins and destinations, provided that all wagons cross at least one border.’

(1) OJ L 156, 28.6.1969, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1893/91 (OJ L 169, 29.6.1991, p. 1).
(2) OJ C 365 E, 19.12.2000, p. 169.
(3) OJ C 140 E, 13.6.2002, p. 262.

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3) The first indent of Article 5(3) is deleted.

4) The phrase ‘and international groupings’ is deleted in Article 8(1).

5) Paragraph (1) of Article 10 is deleted.

6) The amendments referred to in points 1), 3), 4) and 5) above shall take effect on 1 January 2008.

7) The following paragraphs 3(a), 3(b), 3(c) and 3(d) are inserted in Article 10:

Railway undertakings within the scope of Article 2 shall, for the purpose of operating interna-
‘3(a)
tional passenger services, by 1 January 2008, and, for the purpose of operating all other types of
passenger service, by 1 January 2012, be granted, on equitable conditions, access to the infrastruc-
ture. Railway undertakings shall, when operating an international passenger service, have the right to
pick up and set down passengers at any station between the points of departure and destination.

3(b) Member States may limit the right of access defined in paragraph 3(a) for services which are
covered by a public service contract conforming to the Community legislation in force. Any such
limitation, including one that results in restricting the right to pick up and set down passengers at any
station, may only be imposed, on the basis of an objective economic analysis, by the regulatory body
referred to in Article 30 of Directive 2001/14/EC (*) or by agreement between the regulatory bodies
concerned if the public service would otherwise no longer be viable.

3(c) Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the decisions referred to in para-
graph 3(b) are subject to judicial review.

3(d) Member States shall remain free to anticipate the grant of access rights to railway undertak-
ings and international groupings for national and international passenger transport services. The
use of such rights may temporarily be confined to railway undertakings, and their directly and indir-
ectly controlled subsidiaries, that hold a licence in the Member States where analogous conditions for
access to the railway infrastructure apply.

(*) OJ L 75, 15.3.2001, p. 29. Directive as last amended by Directive 2004/49/EC (OJ L 164,

30.4.2004, p. 44).’

8) The following paragraph is added to Article 14:

‘By 31 December 2009 and 31 December 2013 respectively, at the latest, the Commission shall submit
to the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the
Regions and the Council two reports on the implementation of the provisions of this Directive, the
first report relating to international passenger services and the second report relating to all other
types of passenger service, including in each report an assessment of the allocation of train paths
and of the effects on public service contracts.’

Article 2

Article 17(5) of Directive 2001/14/EC shall be replaced by the following:

‘5.
Framework agreements shall in principle be of a duration of five years and shall be renewable
for periods equal to their original duration. The infrastructure manager may agree to a shorter or
longer period in specific cases. Periods longer than five years must be justified by reference to the
existence of commercial contracts, specialised investments or risks.

For services using specialised infrastructure, as referred to in Article 24, and which require substan-
tial and long-term investment, framework agreements may be of 10 years' duration. Any period
longer than 10 years shall be permissible only in exceptional cases, in particular where there is
large-scale, long-term investment, and particularly where such investment is covered by contractual
commitments including a multi-annual amortisation plan.’

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Article 3

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
comply with this Directive by […] (**) at the latest. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be
accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine
how such reference is to be made.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law
which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive, together with a table showing how the provisions of this
Directive correspond to the national provisions adopted.

This Directive shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Union.

Article 4

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at…, …

Article 5

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

(**) 18 months after the date of adoption of this Directive.

P6_TA(2005)0355

Certification of train crews ***I

European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a directive of the European Parlia-
ment and of the Council on the certification of train crews operating locomotives and trains on
the Community's rail network (COM(2004)0142 — C6-0002/2004 — 2004/0048(COD))

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission proposal

to the European Parliament and the Council

(COM(2004)0142) (1),

— having regard to Articles 251(2) and 71 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission

submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6-0002/2004),

— having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6-0133/2005),

(1) Not yet published in OJ.