REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Sixth report on monitoring development of the rail market
Date: 2019-02-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, common transport policy, free competition, rail transport, services of general interest, trans-European network, transport company, transport infrastructure, transport market

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.2.2019  COM(2019) 51 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Sixth report on monitoring development of the rail market {SWD(2019) 13 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENTAND THE COUNCIL 

Sixth report on monitoring development of the rail market pursuant to Article 15(4) 
of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 

1. 

Introduction 

The rail sector1 makes a substantial contribution to the EU economy, directly employing 
over  1  million  people  (railway  undertakings,  infrastructure  managers).  European  rail 
transports  some  1.6  billion  tonnes  of  freight  and  9  billion  passengers  each  year.  Rail 
transport is critical to the EU strategy for a more sustainable transport sector, economic 
and social cohesion and connecting Europeans within and between Member States. 

This  report  is  the  sixth  edition  of  the  rail  market  monitoring  report  submitted  by  the 
Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  pursuant  to  Article 15(4)  of 
Directive 2012/34/EU2. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the main 
developments in rail markets in the context of EU rail market policy objectives3. It covers 
a broad range of topics such as the evolution of the internal market in rail services, the 
infrastructure  and  services  available  to  railway  undertakings,  the  framework  conditions 
(including charges4), the state of the network, the utilisation of access rights and barriers 
to  more  effective  rail  services.  The  accompanying  staff  working  document  contains  a 
detailed analysis. 

This  is  the  first  report  to  draw  on  the  reporting  questionnaire  set  out  in  Commission 
Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2015/1100  on  rail  market  monitoring5  (hereinafter  ‘the 
RMMS  Regulation’).  Applicable  from  1  January  2016,  the  RMMS  Regulation  should 
gradually lead to a more consistent and coherent dataset with a transitional period, which 
ends with the reporting year 2016. 

In addition to RMMS data submitted by the Member States and Norway, this report also 
draws on contributions from the Statistical pocketbook ‘EU transport in figures’6, reports 
from the European Union Agency for Railways7, Eurostat8, statistics collected by various 
sectoral organisations and presentations and studies. 

In this report, ‘rail sector’ refers to railway undertakings and rail infrastructure managers. 

1  
2   Directive  2012/34/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21  November  2012 

establishing a single European railway area, OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 32. 

3   Norway participates in the RMMS, but data for Norway are not included in EU totals and averages. In 
addition to the rail market report, the European Union Agency for Railways publishes annual reports 
on safety and bi-annual reports on the interoperability performance of railways. 

4     Comprehensive  monitoring  of  rail  prices  for  customers  is  not  possible  due  to  the  wide  variety  of 

services offered. 
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1100 of 7 July 2015 on the reporting obligations of 
the Member States in the framework of rail market monitoring, OJ L 181, 9.7.2015, p. 1. 
https://ec.europa.eu/transport/facts-fundings/statistics/pocketbook-2018_en 
https://www.era.europa.eu/library/corporate-publications_en 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/transport/data/database 

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7  
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2.  EU rail network 

The total  length  of the EU rail network9 in  2016 was around 221 000 line kilometres 
(1.6 %  lower  than  in  2011).  The  density  of  national  rail  networks  reflects  countries’ 
different geographical characteristics, with the Nordic and Baltic countries showing the 
lowest  densities  of  rail  network  relative  to  surface  area  and  the  highest  relative  to 
population. Around 54 % of the EU network was electrified in 2016, with an additional 
2 097 km  of  electrified  route  since  2011  (+1.7 %).  The  EU’s  high-speed  network 
stretched to over 8 400 line kilometres by the end of 2017, and has more than doubled in 
length since 2003. 

Figure 1: Length of national networks in 2016 and relative change, 2011-2016  

Source: Statistical pocketbook, 2018. Infill data from various other sources.  

3.  Services to railway undertakings 

Mapping  service  facilities  is  an  ongoing  challenge  given  the  variability  in  services 
provided and the large number of different operators of various sizes. 

According to available RMMS data10, in 2016 there were: 

–  31 000 passenger stations; 

–  2 358 freight terminals; 

–  452 marshalling yards; 

–  1 667 maintenance facilities; 

–  702 maritime and port facilities; and 

Including Norway. 

9  
10   Data incomplete with gaps and different definitions applied. Data include Norway. 

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–  954 refuelling facilities. 

The Commission is working on implementation of Regulation (EU) 2017/2177 on access 
to  service  facilities11,  on  an  EU  rail  facility  portal  to  map  them  and  on  better 
implementation of the RMMS Regulation to monitor them. 

4.  Evolution of rail services 

Total  EU  train  kilometres,  which  include  both  passenger  and  freight  train  movements, 
remained stable between 2009 and 2016. Rail passenger traffic continued to grow 1.7 % 
per year. By contrast, rail freight traffic struggled to recover from the significant drop in 
volumes experienced in 2009, the low point of the economic crisis. A peak in 2011 was 
followed by a slow recovery from 201212. 

Figure 2: Passenger and freight volumes, 2005-2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. Infill data from various other sources and estimates. 

Rail has the potential to play a significant role in accelerating the reduction in transport 
emissions. Rail only accounts for 2 % of total EU energy consumption in transport, while 
it carried 11.2 % of freight and 6.6 % of passengers of all transport modes in 2016. It is 
also the only mode to have almost continuously reduced CO2 emissions since 1990: by 
2016, it represented only 0.5 % of the CO2 emissions from all transport modes13.  

Passenger traffic 

By 2016, EU passenger traffic volumes had reached 450 billion passenger kilometres out 
of around 6 trillion passenger kilometres of land transport overall. Rail passenger traffic 
is mostly domestic, with only 6 % crossing borders in 2016. 

11   Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2017/2177  of  22  November  2017  on  access  to  service 

facilities and rail-related services, OJ L 307, 23.11.2017, p. 1–13. 

12   Data  on  volumes  reported  in  the  yearly  RMMS  questionnaire  may  differ  from  those  reported  by 
Eurostat,  due  to  the  different  scope,  potential  double  counting  of  transit  volumes  and  adjustments 
(estimates and integration from other sources). 

13   Excluding indirect emissions from electricity consumption. 

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Figure 3: Evolution of rail passenger traffic volumes, 2007-2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. Infill data from various other sources and estimates. 

The average propensity to travel in the EU increased from 830 passenger kilometres per 
inhabitant  in  2011  to  882  in  2016  (+1.2 %  per  year).  While  the  passenger  car’s  modal 
share  in  land  transport  remained  above  80 %,  the  share  of  passenger  rail  increased 
from 7.0 % to 7.6 % between 2007 and 2016. 

Figure 4: Passenger land transport modal split by country 2016 and change in the share of rail 2011-2016 

Source: Eurostat and statistical pocketbook, 2018. 2011 data for EU27.  

Freight traffic 

In  2016,  EU  freight  traffic  volumes  reached  419  billion  tonne  kilometres  out  of  2.5 
trillion  of  land  transport  overall.  Around  half  of  total  rail  freight  is  cross-border.  This 
lends  rail  freight  a  strong  European  dimension,  and  makes  it  even  more  sensitive  to  a 
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lack of interoperability and cooperation between national rail networks that can affect its 
competitiveness. 

Figure 5: Evolution of rail freight traffic volumes, 2007-2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. Infill data from various other sources and estimates. 

On the modal share, since the peak in 2011 (19 %), the rail share in EU land freight has 
decreased, although managed to remain at around 17 % in 2016, while the road share has 
increased from 75 % to 76 %. 

Figure 6: Freight land transport modal split by country 2016 and change in the share of rail 2011-2016 

Source: Eurostat. 

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5.  Evolution of framework conditions in the rail sector 

5.1. 

Infrastructure charging 

Track  access  charges  represented  more  than  80 %  of  infrastructure  managers’  revenues 
from charges in the majority of countries, both for passenger trains and for freight trains.  

Track  access  charges  for  high-speed  rail  (excluding  mark-ups)  are  higher  than  other 
passenger  charges,  reaching  a  maximum  in  the  United  Kingdom  (EUR  19  per  train 
kilometre in 2016). 

Track  access  charges  for  conventional  long-distance  passenger  trains  (excluding 
mark-ups) were less than EUR 3 per train kilometre in the majority of countries. 

Figure 7: Access charges (excluding mark-ups): passenger trains by type by country, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. DE data including mark-ups. 

Freight  charges  (excluding  mark-ups)  are  monitored  across  three  different  maximum 
gross tonnages (1 000, 1 600, and 6 000). Five Member States (Latvia, Estonia, France, 
Portugal and Denmark) apply a fixed charge per train kilometre. In most other Member 
States,  access  charges  increase  with  train  size,  although  not  necessarily  pro  rata  with 
tonnage.  

Turning  to  charging  levels  between  2013  and  2016  (where  available),  there  is  no  clear 
upward or downward trend both for passenger and freight trains. 

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Figure 8: Access charges (excluding mark-ups): freight trains by type by country, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. For DE: split by train type not available, figure here includes mark-ups. 

5.2.  Capacity  allocation,  infrastructure  limitations  and  barriers  to  more 

effective rail services 

The  most  intensively  used  networks  are  those  of  north-west  Europe,  including  the 
Netherlands  (operating  almost  50 000  train  kilometre  per  route  kilometre  in  2016)  and 
the United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium, where the 
network utilisation rates were some 70 % higher than the EU average. 

Figure 9: Network utilisation in 2016 and compound average growth rate, 2011-2016  

Source: RMMS, 2018 and Statistical pocketbook, 2018 

Congestion  underlines  the  existence  of  infrastructure  limitations;  this  prevents  all 
potential  traffic  from  travelling  on  the  network.  The  total  length  of  track  declared 

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congested  (including  Norway)  is  increasing  and  reached  almost  3 000  km  in  2016, 
including 1 000 km of rail freight corridors; 40 % of total congested track is in the United 
Kingdom. There is  also  considerable congestion in  Germany,  Italy  and Romania, all of 
which have declared more than 100 km of track as congested.  

The  services  most  commonly  prioritised  by  Member  States  are  those  provided  under 
public  service  obligation  (PSO),  first  priority  in  11 Member  States,  followed  by 
international passenger and freight services. 

Operational infrastructure limitations can also limit rail transport and represent a barrier 
to more effective rail services. Incompatibility of national legacy train control systems in 
particular  constitutes  a  significant  barrier  to  interoperability.  The  Union  therefore 
introduced  a  common  European  signalling  system  —  the  European  Railway  Traffic 
Management  System  (ERTMS).  According  to  the  new  ERTMS  European  Deployment 
Plan14, around 30-40 % of the core network corridors must be equipped with ERTMS by 
2023 (15 672 km): only one third of that is currently in operation, so there is still much to 
do in the coming years. 

5.3. 

Infrastructure expenditure and funding 

Total EU infrastructure expenditure rose from EUR 29 billion in 2011 to EUR 50 billion 
in 2015, falling by EUR 3.5 billion in 201615. 

Figure 10: Expenditure on infrastructure and proportion on maintenance and renewals, 2011-2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. 

The  EU  can  co-finance  or  support  rail  investment  projects  by  means  of  the  Cohesion 
Fund,  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund,  the  Connecting  Europe  Facility,  the 
European Investment Bank and the European Fund for Strategic Investments. More than 
EUR 33  billion  in  grants  has  been  allocated  to  rail  investment  under  the  current  EU 
financial framework (2014-2020). 

14   Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/6 of 5 January 2017 on the European Rail Traffic 

Management System European deployment plan, OJ L 3, 6.1.2017, p. 6–28. 

15   Norway excluded. 

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Maintaining  and  renewing  the  existing  network  to  improve  safety  and  operational 
performance and ensure reliable service is a major challenge for infrastructure managers 
—  in  particular  given  the  increasing  traffic  and  demanding  performance  targets  agreed 
between national authorities and operators. 

total 

reported  maintenance  and 

to 
In  2016, 
EUR 26 billion16. The proportion of maintenance  and renewal  expenditure was 54 % of 
the  total,  but  varied  between  countries,  with  Central  and  Eastern  European  countries 
spending a substantial proportion on maintenance and renewal of lines. 

renewal  expenditure  amounted 

Figure 11: Expenditure on infrastructure and proportion on maintenance and renewals per country, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. NO, SE included enhancements with renewals. 

Infrastructure managers obtain resources to maintain and improve their rail infrastructure 
from a variety of sources, although 70 % came from national budgets in 2016. Their own 
resources include infrastructure access charges. The proportion of total funding generated 
internally was highest in Latvia (100 %), Lithuania and France (both 81 %), followed by 
Slovakia (69 %) and the United Kingdom (42 %).   

16   Norway included. 

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Figure 12: State rail infrastructure funding by source and country, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. 

5.4.  Quality of rail transport services 

Punctuality and reliability of passenger services 

Based  on  the  definition  used17,  an  average  of  90 %  of  local  and  regional  passenger 
services were punctual. Long-distance services tend to be less punctual because longer 
distances often include busier lines with mixed traffic. Reliability of services, measured 
in terms of cancellation rates, is usually below 2 % both for long-distance trains and for 
local and regional trains. 

Punctuality and reliability of freight services 

Limited data are  available on the  reliability of freight services as Member States were 
still making use of the transitional period to adapt to the new reporting requirements of 
the RMMS Regulation. Most Member States reported that domestic freight services were 
more  punctual18  than  international  freight  services.  From  the  limited  data  available,  it 
appears that the reliability of freight services is significantly lower than the reliability of 
passenger  services  and  that  international  services,  mainly  due  to  covering  longer 
distances, suffer more than domestic ones. 

Safety 

Rail  remains  one  of  the  safest  modes  of  transport.  There  were  964  rail  fatalities19  in 
Europe in 2016: the majority of which involved people using level crossings (255) and 
unauthorised persons (600). The number of employee and passenger fatalities was 32 and 
44 respectively. Railway safety continued to improve between 2010 and 2015, although 
the number of fatalities and serious injuries increased slightly in 2016. Between 2011 and 
2015, rail travel was more than 25 times safer than travelling by car.  

17   RMMS considers a passenger train punctual if delayed 5 minutes or less. 
18   RMMS considers a freight train punctual if delayed 15 minutes or less. 
19   Excluding  suicides.  Further  information  in  the  Agency’s  ‘Report  on  Railway  Safety  and 

Interoperability in the EU 2018’. 

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Satisfaction of customers with passenger services 

According to a Eurobarometer survey20 published in September 2018, 66 % of Europeans 
are satisfied with the frequency of passenger trains, 59 % with punctuality and reliability, 
and  55 %  with  travel  information  during  journeys,  particularly  when  there  is  a  delay. 
These  figures  represent  significant  improvements  compared  to  a  similar  survey  carried 
out in 2013. 

The survey also provides an insight into travel habits. Four out of five (80 %) Europeans 
travel by train and are most likely to use the train for suburban trips (67 %). There is still 
significant  room  for  improvement:  only  38 %  of  Europeans  are  satisfied  with  how 
complaints are handled, and the accessibility of rail services for passengers with reduced 
mobility needs further work. The survey also shows that 75 % of Europeans find buying 
train tickets easy, and 62 % are happy with the availability of tickets for journeys that use 
several trains or transport modes. 

Satisfaction of stakeholders with rail freight corridor services 

There  is  no  EU-wide  comparable  survey  of  customer  satisfaction  with  rail  freight 
services21.  Nevertheless,  there  seems  to  be  a  certain  consensus  among  stakeholders  on 
three  key  components  to  ensure  rail  freight  customer  satisfaction:  reliability,  flexibility 
and the provision of reliable shipment information. 

5.5. 

Public service contracts 

In  2016,  over  60 %  of  total  EU  rail  passenger  kilometres  were  travelled  on  services 
provided  under  a  PSO,  and  PSO  compensation  remains  a  significant  source  of  revenue 
for railway undertakings in a majority of Member States. PSO is used more for domestic 
and regional rail services than for long-distance  services;  only a few countries reported 
having a PSO on international services. 

Figure 13: Passenger kilometres on PSO and commercial rail services, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. No recent data for NL. 

20  

http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/survey/getsurveydetail/instruments/ 
flash/surveyky/2172. 

21   Rail freight corridors publish annual surveys based on a standardised questionnaire. 

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Competitive tendering was used for only 41 % of all PSO services active in 2016, almost 
exclusively in three Member States that early liberalised (the United Kingdom, Germany 
and  Sweden).  Thanks  to  the  Fourth  Railway  Package,  competitive  tendering  will 
gradually  become  the  rule,  with  direct  award  only  allowed  in  exceptional  cases.  New 
competitive  tenders  of  more  than  32  million  train  kilometres  per  year  were  awarded  in 
2016. 

Figure 14: PSOs competitively tendered and directly awarded, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. No data for NL. 

Levels of PSO compensation per train kilometre and the proportion of PSO costs that are 
recovered  through  passenger  fares  widely  differ  across  countries.  Average  PSO 
compensation  is  negative  in  the  United  Kingdom,  where  bidders  for  exclusive  rights 
under PSO contracts (‘franchises’) might pay a ‘premium’ if they deem that services can 
be operated profitably at current (regulated) levels of access charges and fares.  

Figure 15: Apparent average PSO compensation, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. No data for EL, NL, PT. 

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Figure 16: Apparent proportion of PSO costs recovered through passenger fares, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. No data for FR and SI. 

5.6.  Licensing 

The number of active licences of railway undertakings varied in 2016 between 448 in 
Germany and 2 in Luxembourg and Ireland. Poland and the Czech Republic also reported 
over 100 active licences and the UK more than 50. 

Average  fees  to  obtain  a  licence  in  2016  varied  between  EUR 37 500  in  Portugal  and 
EUR 10 in Croatia. 

Sweden, Spain and Poland reported the longest average time to obtain a licence (more 
than 100 days). 

5.7.  Degree of market opening and utilisation of access rights 

Thanks to EU legislation, the rail freight market was opened up to competition in 2007. 
In 2016, new operators competing with national incumbents were active in all countries 
except  Greece,  Ireland,  Lithuania  and  Luxembourg,  and  in  half  of  them  the  market 
share of competitors was more than 40 %. Between 2011 and 2016, the market share of 
competitors steadily increased in all EU countries. Competitors lost market share only in 
Sweden and Estonia, with their market share in Estonia falling from 41 % to 20 %.  

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0%20%40%60%80%100%UKLUNLPTLTFIESIEITNODEDKSEELPLROATCZHRLVBEEESKHUBGApparent proportion of PSO costsrecovered from passenger fares 
 
Figure 17: Competitors in freight, market share and compound average growth rate, 2011-2016  

Source: RMMS, 2018. One operator with 100% share in EL, IE, LT, LU. 

While  the  international  passenger  market  has  been  opened  up  to  competition  since 
2010, Member States continue to regulate access to their  domestic passenger markets 
until the Fourth Railway Package has been implemented. Passenger railway undertakings 
can offer their services under a PSO scheme or under purely commercial conditions (i.e. 
without  public  compensation).  In  both  markets,  the  services  can  be  offered  only  by  a 
monopolistic  incumbent,  or  can  be  open  to  other  competing  railway  undertakings. 
According to reported figures, only half of the Member States have competitors operating 
in the commercial passenger market. Their market share is generally higher than 10 %, 
and  in  four  Member  States  new  entrants  offer  almost  all  of  the  commercial  services. 
Alternative operators are also present in the PSO segment; however, their market share is 
above 10 % only in a limited number of Member States. 

Figure 18: Competitors in commercial passenger market, market share, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. No data for BE, CZ, IE, NL and RO. 

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Figure 19: Competitors in PSO passenger market, market share, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. All other Member States reported a single operator. 

5.8.  Employment and social conditions 

According to the RMMS data reported by the Member States and Norway, at the end of 
2016 just over 1 million people were employed in the European railway  sector, around 
600 000 of them by railway undertakings and 440 000 by infrastructure managers. 

The  workforce  is  predominantly  male;  on  average  only  21 %  were  women.  The 
proportion of female staff varies between 50 % in Estonia and 8 % in Austria. 

Figure 20: Employees by gender and country, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. No data for LU. 

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An ageing workforce continues to be a concern, especially for Spain, Greece and Italy, 
where over 50 % of the workforce were over 50 years old in 2016. 

Figure 21: Employees by age group and country, 2016 

Source: RMMS, 2018. No data for LU. 

Data show that 90 % or more of staff have permanent contracts, reflecting both the need 
for  highly  trained  staff  such  as  train  drivers  and  signal  operators  to  be  retained  and 
historic employment policies. 80 % or more of the staff are also employed full time. 

Only  a  few  Member  States  reported  the  use  of  apprenticeship  and  traineeship 
programmes,  which  are  more  common  in  Austria  for  railway  undertakings  and  in 
Germany for infrastructure managers. 

6.  Conclusions 

This section draws its conclusions based on the analysis carried out in this report and in 
the  accompanying  staff  working  document,  and  examines  the  relevance  of  ongoing 
Commission initiatives and the need for legislation in the rail sector. 

EU  railways  continue  to  grow,  with  passenger  volumes  in  particular  increasing 
significantly between 2011 and 2016. However, freight volumes remain volatile and led 
to a loss of modal share in comparison with road transport in 2016. At the same time, rail 
markets are gradually opening up and safety levels remain high. The industry is gradually 
becoming more performance-based, innovative and responsive to customer needs. 

Rail is an important contributor to EU transport mix, providing clean mobility and a high 
level of efficiency. While the satisfaction of Europeans with passenger rail services has 
increased  compared  to  5  years  ago,  there  is  still  room  for  improvement  on  passenger 

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rights.  The  negotiations  with  legislators  on  the  Commission’s  2017  proposal  to  revise 
Regulation (EC) 1371/200722 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations are still ongoing. 

These developments have occurred against a background of substantial change within the 
industry,  which  has  been  driven  by  the  structural  changes  initiated  by  EU  legislation 
more than 20 years ago and concluded by the adoption of the Fourth Railway Package in 
2016.  Implementation  of  the  package’s  technical  pillar  from  June  2019  will  further 
improve  interoperability  between  national  rail  networks.  It  will  also  cut  red  tape  for 
operations beyond one single Member State and strengthening the role of the European 
Union  Agency  for  Railways.  The  market  pillar  completes  the  opening  of  domestic 
markets as of December 2019 and imposes the principle of competitive tendering as the 
rule  for  public  service  contracts  in  the  EU  by  December  2023  at  the  latest,  with  direct 
award only allowed in exceptional cases.  

The  Commission  has  continued  to  work  on  implementing  measures  necessary  for 
effective  market  functioning.  It  is  now  focusing  on  enforcement,  ensuring  that  both 
pillars of the package are transposed  and implemented correctly and that  implementing 
acts are adopted and complied with. 

On  the  rail  freight’s  struggle  to  grow  modal  share,  the  international  nature  of  these 
services makes  them sensitive to  interoperability  barriers  and cross-border coordination 
issues. To tackle the situation, the Commission is pursuing an agenda of complementary 
initiatives  and  measures.  The  Commission’s 
long-standing  policy  of  achieving 
interoperability  (including  the  efficient  and  coordinated  deployment  of  ERTMS)  has 
been strengthened recently, with the focus on solving practical cross-border operational 
issues. 

The Commission’s infrastructure development policy in the form of the Trans-European 
Transport  Network  (TEN-T)  policy  aims  to  improve  infrastructure  by  addressing 
bottlenecks  and  missing  links.  Under  the  next  financial  period,  the  Commission  has 
proposed  to  use  Connecting  Europe  Facility  2,  Cohesion  Fund,  European  Regional 
Development Fund and InvestEU financial support to speed up also rail digitalisation. To 
help  the  rail  industry  access  finance,  the  Commission  is  developing  a  methodology  to 
assess  the  green  components  in  rail  projects  under  its  action  plan  on  sustainable 
finance23. 

The  rail  freight  corridors  remain  a  key  part  of  the  Commission’s  policy  to  boost  rail 
freight.  The  Rail  Freight  Regulation24  and  Train  Drivers  Directive25  are  still  being 
evaluated. To bolster rail freight, in November 2017 the Commission proposed amending 
Combined  Transport  Directive  92/106/EC26  as  part  of  its  second  mobility  package  to 
provide new and more effective support measures for shifting freight from road to rail. 

22   Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on 

rail passengers’ rights and obligations, OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 14–41. 
https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/180308-action-plan-sustainable-growth_en 

23 
24   Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 

concerning a European rail network for competitive freight, OJ L 276, 20.10.2010, p. 22–32 

25   Directive  2007/59/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  23  October  2007  on  the 
certification  of  train  drivers  operating  locomotives  and  trains  on  the  railway  system  in  the 
Community, OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 51–78 

26   Council Directive 92/106/EEC of 7 December 1992 on the establishment of common rules for certain 

types of combined transport of goods between Member States, OJ L 368, 17.12.1992, p. 38. 

17 

 
                                                 
These key policies are accompanied by efforts to tackle the issue of rail noise, to better 
embed rail in the multimodal transport system by deploying digital technologies and to 
foster  innovation,  particularly  by  way  of  the  activities  of  the  Shift2Rail27  joint 
undertaking. 

Furthermore, rail cannot be considered in isolation from other modes: its competitiveness 
also depends on the framework for intermodal competition. This is why the Commission 
is striving for equal conditions for intermodal competition, such as through the mobility 
package including the amendment of the Eurovignette Directive28. The Commission has 
also  commissioned  a  comprehensive  study  on  the  internalisation  of  external  costs  in 
transport.  This  will  help  it  to  assess  the  extent  to  which  the  ‘user  pays’  and  ‘polluter 
pays’ principles are implemented in the Member States for all modes of transport. 

Reliable  monitoring  of  the  rail  market  remains  a  priority  to  be  able  to  follow  market 
developments and to benchmark performance. 

https://shift2rail.org/  

27  
28    https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/road/news/2017-05-31-europe-on-the-move_en  

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