Case C-671/21, ‘Gargždų geležinkelis’: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 28 September 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas — Lithuania) — ‘Gargždų geležinkelis’ UAB (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Single European railway area — Directive 2012/34/EU — Allocation of railway infrastructure capacity — Article 45 — Scheduling — Article 46 — Coordination process — Article 47 — Congested infrastructure — Prioritisation of specific services — Priority criteria — National legislation providing for priority rules linked to the intensity of the use of the infrastructure)
Date: 2023-09-28
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: carriage of goods, common transport policy, rail transport, transport capacity, transport company








C_202300725EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/725


20.11.2023





Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 28 September 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas — Lithuania) — ‘Gargždų geležinkelis’ UAB
(Case C-671/21, (1)
               ‘Gargždų geležinkelis’)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Single European railway area - Directive 2012/34/EU - Allocation of railway infrastructure capacity - Article 45 - Scheduling - Article 46 - Coordination process - Article 47 - Congested infrastructure - Prioritisation of specific services - Priority criteria - National legislation providing for priority rules linked to the intensity of the use of the infrastructure)
(C/2023/725)
Language of the case: Lithuanian

Referring court

Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant:
            ‘Gargždų geležinkelis’ UAB

other parties to the proceedings: Lietuvos transporto saugos administracija, Lietuvos Respublikos ryšių reguliavimo tarnyba, ‘LTG Infra’ AB

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Articles 45 and 46 of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area
must be interpreted as meaning that, within the scheduling process and the coordination process referred to in those articles, the infrastructure manager:






—


is not required to ascertain whether several applicants have submitted competing requests for capacity for the carriage of the same freight;










—


may apply certain criteria, including criteria that involve some form of prioritisation, provided that their application allows infrastructure capacity to be allocated in a fair and non-discriminatory manner and in accordance with EU law;










—


must attempt actively to seek a satisfactory solution with applicants in the event of conflicts.














2.


Article 47(3) and (4) of Directive 2012/34
must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which, for the purpose of allocating infrastructure capacity in the event of congested infrastructure, provides for the application of a priority criterion based on the planned use of that capacity, unless that criterion has safeguards to ensure that it is not applied to the detriment of new entrants.






(1)  
            OJ C 84, 21.2.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/725/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)