Creating a fair and open rail market to compete with road and aviation is key
Posted: 6 December 2011 | | No comments yet
Over the coming weeks and months, EU policy-makers will lock horns in earnest over new rules to ensure fair and open competition in the European rail market, both freight and passenger. On economic grounds alone it is critical that the right rules are in place but it is equally important from an environmental standpoint.
The EU is pursuing ambitious reductions in CO2 and the right conditions for growth in international rail travel could encourage many more people to choose the train over less carbon efficient options such as the car or plane.
Transport accounts for almost a quarter of total EU greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is the only sector where emissions continue to rise – an increase of 36% since 1990. If Europe is serious about reversing this trend and meeting its global environmental commitments, it needs to get its transport pricing and infrastructure investment policy right.
Over the coming weeks and months, EU policy-makers will lock horns in earnest over new rules to ensure fair and open competition in the European rail market, both freight and passenger. On economic grounds alone it is critical that the right rules are in place but it is equally important from an environmental standpoint. The EU is pursuing ambitious reductions in CO2 and the right conditions for growth in international rail travel could encourage many more people to choose the train over less carbon efficient options such as the car or plane. Transport accounts for almost a quarter of total EU greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is the only sector where emissions continue to rise – an increase of 36% since 1990. If Europe is serious about reversing this trend and meeting its global environmental commitments, it needs to get its transport pricing and infrastructure investment policy right.
Over the coming weeks and months, EU policy-makers will lock horns in earnest over new rules to ensure fair and open competition in the European rail market, both freight and passenger. On economic grounds alone it is critical that the right rules are in place but it is equally important from an environmental standpoint.
The EU is pursuing ambitious reductions in CO2 and the right conditions for growth in international rail travel could encourage many more people to choose the train over less carbon efficient options such as the car or plane.
Transport accounts for almost a quarter of total EU greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is the only sector where emissions continue to rise – an increase of 36% since 1990. If Europe is serious about reversing this trend and meeting its global environmental commitments, it needs to get its transport pricing and infrastructure investment policy right.
Over the last 17 years, Eurostar has carried more than 120 million people between London and Brussels and Paris. Independent research has shown that a journey by high-speed rail on these routes produces 10 times less carbon than the same journey by plane. There are 20 million people a year from London and the Southeast of the UK currently making journeys to destinations in Continental Europe that could be made by connecting journeys on high-speed rail.
This represents an exciting incentive for the rail industry to ensure that the experience of connecting rail journeys is as seamless and convenient as possible. Eurostar is already working with other railway operators to achieve better coordination of timetables, simplified booking tools and consistently high customer service – all of which are necessary if we are to keep attracting new travellers to the train.
However, in order to realise the ambition of a truly competitive European high-speed rail network, the industry needs the right economic and regulatory framework that will allow the market to grow.
When it comes to setting the price for European short-haul travel, the budget airlines remain in pole position. Budget airlines pay per plane, not per kilometre. As a rail company, the further we go the more we pay. We have to go wherever the rails are established, whereas airlines can, within limits, shop around for airports – hence the surge in activity of regional airports in Europe. If we want to create a truly competitive market between high-speed rail and airlines the charging regime needs to be adapted to reflect this fundamental difference.
The EU needs to establish transparent and viable Europe-wide rail markets with regulatory provisions that permit the promotion of international rail journeys and which do not skew the rules towards incumbent rail operators or indirectly towards airlines. We also need to ensure that national regulators have the proper powers and resources to do their job: not least to check effectively that individual decisions on track access and pricing conditions are fair to all rail operators and take into account competition from airlines.
As the EU strives to provide greater choice for consumers and realise its significant environmental ambitions, the creation of a fair and open rail market that can compete with road and aviation is key. The Recast of the 1st Railway Package presents an opportunity to get the fundamentals right. Politicians and policymakers alike should seize the moment to create a regulatory framework in which high-speed rail travel can flourish in the newly deregulated open access world.
