Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - The quality of rail freight services
Date: 2008-09-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, competition, competitiveness, freight rate, provision of services, quality label, rail transport

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 8.9.2008 
COM(2008) 536 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

The quality of rail freight services 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

The quality of rail freight services 

1. 

THE COMMISSION’S 2004 PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATION 

In  March  2004  the  Commission  adopted  a  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council on compensation in cases of non-compliance with contractual 
quality  requirements  for  rail  freight  services  (COM(2004)  144  final  of  3  March  2004).  The 
reasons for this proposal  were  the  poor quality of service provided by freight operators and 
the  need  to  raise  standards  within  a  reasonable  period  in  order  to  maintain  an  adequate 
position for the railways within the EU’s logistics system. 

The Commission also considered that the development of competition would be too slow to 
bring  about  an  adequate  improvement  in  the  quality  of  rail  freight.  It  therefore  thought  it 
worthwhile to propose measures to make it compulsory for compensation to be provided for 
in contracts between rail operators and their customers. It considered that these measures were 
suited to a context characterised by the as yet very limited opening-up of the market and the 
continued  preponderance  of  incumbent  operators,  in  order  to  encourage  rail  operators  to 
improve their performance further. 

In its proposal for a Regulation, the Commission identified three quality criteria to be met by 
freight operators: the agreed delivery time, information for customers in the event of delivery 
problems and a degree of flexibility concerning the transport order. 

While  supporting  the  Commission’s  objectives,  the  legislator  considered  the  proposal  for  a 
Regulation  to  be  inappropriate.  In  view  of  this,  and  in  order  to  ensure  that  the  problems 
identified  by  the  Commission  in  its  proposal  continue  to  be  examined  carefully,  the 
Commission  committed  itself  to  producing  a  report  on  the  progress  made  by  rail  freight  in 
terms of the quality of service and on the merits of legislating in this area in 2008. 

This  communication  gives  an  analysis  of  the  quality  of  rail  freight  services  and  its 
development  in  recent  years  and  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  agreements  and  voluntary 
measures  implemented  by  the  sector.  It  sets  out  recommendations  for  Community  action  in 
this area. It has been drawn up on the basis of information from a series of players involved in 
the sector (freight customers, operators and infrastructure managers). It is also based on data 
provided by the sectoral associations. 

2. 

CURRENT NEEDS IN TERMS OF FREIGHT QUALITY 

In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  change  in  the  trend  where  rail  freight  is  concerned.  Its 
performance has not deteriorated since 2004, and it increased significantly in 2006, with the 
result that the modal share of the railways in freight transport in Europe increased that year. 

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However, this trend still seems rather fragile since it is basically the result of external factors 
(such  as  the  increases  in  oil  prices  and  road  congestion,  combined  with  weather  conditions 
unfavourable  to  inland  waterway  transport)  rather  than  a  significant  increase  in  the 
attractiveness of the railways. While it is true that the railways have a number of advantages, 
including the growth in combined transport and the longer distances that goods are now being 
transported within the EU, in order to be able to seize these opportunities the railways must be 
more competitive, i.e. more flexible, quicker, more reliable and/or less expensive. 

Performance du fret ferroviaire 
dans l'EU 25 (en Mds de t.km)

420

400

380

360

340

320

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Source: Eurostat 

The  concept  of  quality  can  be  understood  in  two  ways:  the  level  of  service  proposed  and 
offered,  and  compliance  with  contractual  commitments.  The  Commission’s  proposal  for  a 
Regulation did in fact cover these two aspects of quality through flexibility and information 
for the customer on the one hand, and compliance with punctuality on the other. 

However, the expectations of the railways’ industrial customers may concern other aspects of 
the service expected: availability, safety and security. Depending on the nature of the products 
transported  and  the  stakes  involved,  each  of  these  criteria,  together  with  punctuality, 
information  and  flexibility,  is  more  or  less  important  to  the  customer.  All  in  all,  the 
satisfaction of current or prospective rail customers presupposes the provision of a quality of 
service  tailored  to  the  type  of  goods  transported.  It  therefore  appears  difficult  to  establish  a 
hierarchy of quality criteria for all customers. 

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3. 

a) 

THE PROGRESS MADE BY RAIL FREIGHT 

Qualitative aspects 

Within  the  Community  the  opening-up  of  domestic  and  international  rail  freight  market 
competition is a comparatively recent phenomenon. The market for international services has 
been gradually opened up since 15 January 2003, and the market for domestic services since 
1 January 2007. However, several Member States opened up their markets well before these 
dated. 

This process of opening up to competition in EU 12 and in EU 15 is the main incentive for 
incumbent  freight  operators  to  restructure  their  activities  and  improve  their  performance.  In 
many cases, the incumbent rail operator’s restructuring process will be more advanced if the 
opening-up process started earlier. 

The rail freight market is divided into several submarkets the needs of which may differ. They 
frequently  include  the  steel  industry,  the  chemical  industry,  the  motor  vehicle  industry,  the 
paper  industry,  the  agri-food  industry,  raw  materials  and  intermodal  transport.  Many  rail 
operators  have  embarked  on  reforms  with  a  view  to  getting  a  better  understanding  of  the 
needs of the submarkets and adapt the service offered to meet these needs (the service offered 
by large operators now ranges from individual wagon loads to the transport of containers and 
whole train loads, programmable over longer or shorter periods. 

New  tools  and  instruments  aimed  at  customers  have  been  established:  commercial  teams 
dedicated to submarkets or major customers, computer tools to facilitate customer relations, 
for  example.  In  general,  customer  information  and  the  commercial  responsiveness  of  rail 
freight operators have constantly improved over the last few years. 

In  parallel,  the  incumbent  rail  operators  have  embarked  on  restructuring  their  output.  Here 
too,  the  progress  made  varies  considerably  from  one  Member  State  to  another,  the 
development  of  competition  being  a  deciding  factor  in  this  respect.  It  promotes  the 
rationalisation  of  production  and  operators’  costs,  the  emergence  of  new  methods,  new 
production methods, the extension of the services offered by operators and the deployment of 
new, more efficient instruments. 

Despite  this  progress,  the  overall  assessment  of  rail  freight  customers  with  regard  to  the 
quality of service provided by the railways varies considerably. The quality of service offered 
by the railways still seems to be inferior to what the road sector can now deliver, in particular 
on market segments where, in theory, the railways have major advantages over road transport. 

b) 

Monitoring and quality clauses 

Where  quality  monitoring  is  concerned,  several  improvements  have  been  achieved.  Firstly, 
the  sector  as  a  whole  committed  itself  to  improve  freight  quality  with  the  charter  signed  in 
July  2003  by  the  UIC1,  the  CER2  and  the  CIT3  (see  Annex  I),  the  joint  declaration  of 

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International Union of Railways. 
Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies. 
International Rail Transport Committee. 

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April 2005 by UIC/CER and FIATA4/CLECAT5 on the quality of conventional and combined 
international  freight,  and  the  guidelines  on  the  development  and  implementation  of 
agreements on quality for certain segments of conventional international freight published by 
UIC/FIATA/CIT in October 2006. 

Secondly, many incumbent operators have embarked on a policy of certification of the quality 
of their services (see Annex II), thus showing their desire to improve their performance and 
offer their customers additional guarantees. These initiatives were aimed less at promoting the 
introduction  of  binding  clauses  in  contracts  than  encouraging  operators  to  do  better  on  a 
voluntary  basis  as  regards  both  the  level  of  service  and  in  terms  of  attentiveness  to  their 
customers. 

It  would  appear  that  the  inclusion  of  quality  clauses  in  contracts  has  increased  significantly 
over the last four years, in particular for the combined transport market.  However,  it  would 
seem that the proportion of contracts containing such clauses has levelled off in recent years. 
Moreover,  the  development  of  the  activities  and  the  market  share  of  new  entrants  would 
appear  to  be  a  favourable  factor  in  the  development  of  quality  clauses,  since  this  type  of 
operator appears more inclined to accept them in contracts, possibly subject to an increase in 
the rate of service. 

Proportion of contracts containing quality clauses 

Source : CER 

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International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations. 
European Association for forwarding, transport, logistic and customer services. 

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c) 

Quantitative aspects of improvements in quality 

The  effects  of  the  various  initiatives  taken  by  the  sector  (Chapter  3(b))  are  unclear. 
Information  about  the  quality  of  freight  services  is  at  best  sporadic  and  not  sufficiently 
representative to allow a reliable assessment to be made of the effectiveness of the voluntary 
initiatives taken. 

The information most widely available concerns the punctuality of trains. However, these data 
are few and far between and they indicate diverging trends. According to the data published 
by  the  UIRR6  (see  Annex  III),  the  punctuality  of  international  combined  transport  trains 
would  seem  to  be  very  poor  and  falling  in  recent  years.  The  level  of  compliance  with 
timetables is below 60% (53% in 2006, and a few percentage points more in 2007). 

According to the figures published by CER (see Annex IV), overall the punctuality of freight 
trains is increasing slightly. In Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain 
the level of punctuality of freight trains is, according to the operators’ association, more than 
90%  for  domestic  traffic,  and  at  least  80%  in  the  vast  majority  of  Member  States,  also  for 
domestic traffic. 

Apart from the fact that the punctuality of trains is only one part of the quality expected by 
customers, it can be concluded that: 

–  the information available and its reliability are limited; 

–  the  levels  of  punctuality  of  domestic  traffic  are  good.  However,  it  would  seem  that  the 
levels are poor or even very poor in the case of international traffic which represents 50% 
of rail freight traffic in the EU and which also has the greatest growth potential in the years 
ahead  (in  particular  as  a  result  of  the  increase  in  the  volumes  of  containers  to  be 
transported); 

–  overall progress has been made but not sufficient progress. 

4. 

ISSUES AT STAKE CONCERNING INFRASTRUCTURE AND ANCILLARY SERVICES 

So  far,  this  analysis  has  focused  on  the  activities  of  operators,  their  progress  in  terms  of 
organising  their  activities,  quality  monitoring,  and  relations  with  their  customers.  It  is  not 
always easy to identify the causes of the delays to freight trains and, in general, their lack of 
compliance  with  the  contractual  commitments.  According  to  ERFA7  at  least  60%  of  the 
responsibility for poor quality of service does not lie with the operator. Sometimes it lies with 
the  customers,  and  very  often  the  infrastructure  managers  and/or  providers  of  ancillary 
services (terminals and marshalling yards). 

The  conditions  governing  access  to  infrastructure  and  services,  and  the  quality  of  service 
provided  by  the  latter  are  not  comparable  throughout  the  EU.  Rail  infrastructure  and 
investment  management  policies  in  this  area  vary  very  significantly  between  the  different 
Member States. However, it is certain that more progress needs to be made in this connection 

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International Union of Combined Road-Rail Transport Companies. 
European Rail Freight Association. 

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by  the  various  infrastructure  managers.  Improvements  are  called  for  in  particular  in  areas 
relating  to  rail  traffic  management  to  minimise  the  impact  of  unforeseen  events  on  train 
performance.  This  presupposes  in  particular  the  use  of  new  innovative  technologies  and 
improvements  in  infrastructure  maintenance.  Where  international  services  in  particular  are 
concerned, this entails stepping up cooperation between national infrastructure managers and 
much  quicker  development  of  technical  and  administrative  interoperability.  Lastly,  in  some 
cases the only way to improve infrastructure performance is to invest in new infrastructure. 

It should be pointed out that this analysis concerns both rail infrastructure and terminals and 
other ancillary services which are a vital component of the rail freight production chain and 
are in some cases not able to offer an adequate level of service to rail operators. 

5. 

GUIDELINES AND PROPOSALS FROM THE COMMISSION 

It  is  clear  from  the  analysis  set  out  in  the  earlier  sections  that  while  the  sector,  and  in 
particular  the  new  and  incumbent  operators  have  made  progress  and  made  a  big  effort  to 
improve  the  quality  of  their  service,  it  is  still  below  the  level  expected  by  customers.  The 
sectoral initiatives therefore do not yet seem to be sufficient, even though the performance of 
the  operators  is  not  the  only  variable  affecting  the  level  of  quality  of  rail  freight,  and  the 
capacities  of  the  infrastructure  and  ancillary  services play an important role in the railways' 
production process. 

In the light of this and the firm opposition of the legislator and the sector to any legislative 
obligation  in  the  contractual  relations  between  operators,  infrastructure  managers  and 
customers, the Commission thinks it appropriate to withdraw its proposal for a Regulation on 
compensation  in  cases  of  non-compliance  with  contractual  quality  requirements  for  rail 
freight services. To respond to the problems raised in its proposal to which the sector has not 
provided a satisfactory voluntary response, it will continue and, where appropriate, will step 
up its action to develop competition and its initiatives to ensure that freight has at its disposal 
high-quality  infrastructure  and  ancillary  services,  while  reserving  the  right  to  submit  a  new 
proposal if the development of rail freight so requires. 

a) 

Continuing and stepping up action to develop competition 

The  development  of  competition  is  a  vital  component  of  improvements  in  the  quality  of 
service. However, the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation indicated that competition is 
developing  too  slowly.  In  order  to  speed  up  the  effective  implementation  of  the  guidelines 
adopted at Community level to promote competition in the rail sector, in the short term the 
Commission will focus on the following action: 

– 

– 

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effective  application  of  the  rules  concerning  competition  contained  in  the  first  and 
second rail packages8; 

recasting of the first rail package. 

Follow-up to the report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European 
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of the first 
railway package (COM(2006) 189 final of 3 May 2006). 

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Monitoring  the  implementation  of  the  guidelines  on  State  aid  to  railway  undertakings9  will 
also be an important aspect of improving the operation of the rail transport markets. 

b) 

Continuing  and  stepping  up  action  to  improve  infrastructure  and  develop 
interoperability 

To  ensure  that  in  future  rail  freight  operators  have  at  their  disposal  sufficient  high-quality 
infrastructure  and  ancillary  services,  the  Commission  will  step  up  its  action  to  optimise  the 
use  of  infrastructure,  cooperation  between  infrastructure  managers  and  investment  in  rail 
infrastructure. It will remain attentive to the management of a balanced and effective mix of 
traffic  between  passenger  and  freight  trains.  These  guidelines  will  be  established  in  the 
context of the following initiatives in particular: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

c) 

achievement of a European network giving priority to freight10; 
promotion of and accompanying measures for the deployment of ERTMS11 and the 
Technical  Specification  for  Interoperability  “Telematics  Applied  to  Freight”  (TSI 
TAF)12; 

promotion of best practices relating to infrastructure management, through the widest 
possible  dissemination  and  implementation  of  the  principles  contained  in  the 
communication on multiannual contracts13, for example; 
the TEN-E programme14, in particular the work of the European coordinators; 

continuation  of  the  Marco  Polo  programme  which  encourages  in  particular  the 
integration of the logistics chain. 

Continuing  and  stepping  up  action  to  promote  greater  transparency  of  information 
and the management of the performance of the rail system 

To increase transparency relating to the quality of the service provided by rail freight and to 
encourage  the  sector  as  a  whole  (infrastructure  managers  and  operators,  in  particular)  to 
provide  an  even  more  efficient  service,  the  Commission  will  continue  to  encourage  and 
verify: 

– 

– 

– 

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the establishment of schemes for the improvement of performance15; 
the development of tools for measuring the performance of rail freight16; 

the publication of quality indicators. 

Community guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings (SEC(2008) 512 of 30 April 2008). 
Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament  "Towards  a  rail 
network giving priority to freight" (COM(2007) 608 final of 18 October 2007). 
European Rail Traffic Management System. 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 62/2006 of 23 December 2005 concerning the technical specification 
for  interoperability  relating  to  the  telematic  applications  for  freight  subsystem  of  the  trans-European 
conventional rail system. 
Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament  on  multiannual 
contracts for rail infrastructure quality (COM(2008) 54 final of 6 February 2008) 
Trans-European Transport Network. 
Article 11 ("Performance improvement scheme") of Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament 
and  of  the  Council  of  26  February  2001  on  the  allocation  of  railway  infrastructure  capacity  and  the 
levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification. 
See point 2.3 of the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament 
"Towards a rail network giving priority to freight" (COM(2007) 608 final of 18 October 2007). 

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ANNEXES 

Annex I: UIC, CER and CIT Freight Quality Charter 

Annex II: Quality certification of the main rail operators (source CER) 

Annex III: Punctuality of international combined transport trains (source UIRR) 

Annex IV: Punctuality of freight trains (source CER) 

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ANNEX I: UIC, CER AND CIT FREIGHT QUALITY CHARTER 

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ANNEX II: QUALITY CERTIFICATION OF THE MAIN RAIL OPERATORS 
(SOURCE : CER) 

ISO 9001 

SQAS17 

ISO 1400118

OHSAS 
1800119 

VDA 6.220 

BDZ 

BLS Cargo 

CFL Cargo 

CFR Marfa 

Green cargo 

GYSEV 

MAV Cargo 

PKP Cargo  

RCA 

Railion 
Deutschland 

Railion 
Nederland 

RENFE 

SBB Cargo 

SZ 

SNCB 

SNCF Fret 

Trenitalia 
Logistica 

VR 

ZSSK 
Cargo 

(X)21 

X 

(X) 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

(X) 

X 

X 

X 

(X) 

X 

X 

(X) 

X 

X 

X 

X 

(X) 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

(X) 

(X) 

X 

(X) 

X 

(X) 

(X) 

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Safety and quality certification system. 
Environmental quality certification procedure. 
Occupational health and safety certification procedures. 
Certification specific to the motor vehicle industry. 
In preparation. 

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ANNEX III: PUNCTUALITY OF INTERNATIONAL COMBINED TRANSPORT TRAINS – 2006 

(SOURCE UIRR) 

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ANNEX IV: PUNCTUALITY OF FREIGHT TRAINS 

(SOURCE CER) 

Austria 

Punctuality Rail Cargo Austria in 2006 

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Punctuality in B-Cargo 2005-
2007

Percentage of Freight Trains < 60´delay on the Belgian Network
Domestic Traffics (Arrival)

94,0%
92,5%
90,8%

91,6%
91,3%
90,2%

93,2%
93,0%
91,6%

93,5%
93,0%

91,1%

92,8%

90,8%
90,2%

92,4%
91,5%
90,0%

94,6%
93,6%

90,4%

95,5%
95,2%
94,7%

94,1%
93,9%
92,5%

92,8%

87,2%

89,4%
87,7%

91,7%

87,7%

Belgium 

100,0%

95,0%

90,0%

85,0%

80,0%

75,0%

70,0%

65,0%

60,0%

55,0%

50,0%

January

February

March

April

May

June 

July

August

September October

November December

2005

2006

2007

Denmark 

Punctuality Railion Denmark in 2006 

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Finland 

Punctuality VR, 2003-2007 

The Netherlands 

Punctuality in the Netherlands, 2004-2005 

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Sweden 

Punctuality GreenCargo, 2001-2007 

Spain 

Punctuality of Trains in Spain

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

95.3%

95.0%

94.5%

2004

2005

2006

Source: ADIF

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