First Railway Directive
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The Single European Railway Directive 2012''
2012/34/EU
is an
EU Directive The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
that regulates railway networks in European Union law. This recast the "First Railway Directive" or "Package" from 1991, and allows open access operations on railway lines by companies other than those that own the rail infrastructure. The legislation was extended by further directives to include cross border transit of freight. In September 2010, the process of merging the directives into a single piece of legislation was begun, with the addition of modifications to strengthen the regulatory framework. The
Second Railway Package The Second Railway Package is a group of European Union legislation which promote common standards and open access, working towards an integrated European railway area. History For much of the 20th century, rail transport in Europe was dominate ...
, the Third Railway Package, and the
Fourth Railway Package The fourth railway package is a set of changes to rail transport regulation in the European Union law. It covers standards and authorisation for rolling stock; workforce skills; independent management of infrastructure; and the liberalisation ...
aim to push integration further.


Background

In many countries in Europe, the railway systems developed as separate privately owned companies operating regional networksFor example in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Germany. with permission to construct and operate a line being granted or instructed by government legislation, or by royal decree or license. During the 20th century the railways became organised and run through a countrywide organisationFor example: British Railways created in 1948; SNCF 1938;
Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
created through the merger of individual German state railways in 1920; RENFE and
FEVE Renfe Feve is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's of railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named FEVE (Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha,Law 11/1965 of ...
in Spain, during the Franco government
often through nationalisation. These entities, in general, had total or virtual monopolies.Specifically in terms of mainline workings, small industrial railways continued to exist in large industrial complexes such as mines and steelworks. These national companies were vertically integrated organisations and it was difficult or impossible for private or regional enterprises to run their own trains on the national networks, or to compete in other EU countries' railway systems. Thus in 1991 EU Directive 91/440 was created to make it a legal requirement for independent companies to be able to apply for non-discriminatory track access (
running powers Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may co ...
) on a European Union country's track.


Description

The aims of the directive are to create a more efficient rail network by creating greater competition. To achieve this aim member states are required to ensure that organisations operating the infrastructure (track, signalling etc.), and those operating services (trains) are separate and run on a commercial basis.The legal consequence of this is that companies providing track access and those providing trains are separate, both in terms of management and accounting. ie separate companies Additionally railway companies from all member states are allowed to run services on any other member states rail infrastructure, both for passenger transport and goods. The free competition provided by the mandate is optional for regional and urban passenger trains. Further related legislation exists which applies to railway operations that are covered by directive 91/440:


Cross border freight in the EU

The directive was further clarified and extended by EU directive 2001/12 which initially allowed cross border freight operations on a network of tracks – to be called the ''Trans European Rail Freight Network'' a network which includes ports and freight terminals. The network on which traffic was allowed was to be extended to the whole European network. As a consequence of this new trans-national freight network an additional change was made to the original legislation which required train safety and operating standardsSuch standards can be referred to as "
Technical Specifications for Interoperability A technical specification for interoperability (abbreviated as TSI) is a text provided for in European Directive 2016/797 adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the interoperability of the European rail system ...
" (TSI) and are set in the EU by the
European Railway Agency The European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) that sets mandatory requirements for European railways and manufacturers in the form of Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI), which apply to the ...
e.g. see
Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI)
''www.era.europa.eu''
to be set out clearly and administered by an organisation that did not run commercial services. The directive also required separate accounting of freight and passenger service revenues and costs.Directive 2001/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
26 February 2001 amendment to directive 91/440/EEC ''eur-lex.europa.eu''


Track allocation and access charges in the EU

EU directive 2001/14 set out the framework for the construction of bodies that control and regulate the allocation of line possessions to companies, and the charges for using the track, this directive replaced the previous legislation EU directive 95/19.


Licensing of railway companies in the EU

EU Directive 95/18 set out a framework and guidelines for the way in which countries of the EU provide licenses to operate to railway companies; a license provided in one member state is generally valid in all other member states.Provided that the original license was issued for operations in other countries; a change of operating circumstances requires a re-evaluation, or re-application for a license. The directive was further clarified by EU Directive 2001/13 in 2001.


EU Directive 2004/51

EU Directive 2004/51 (part of the
Second Railway Package The Second Railway Package is a group of European Union legislation which promote common standards and open access, working towards an integrated European railway area. History For much of the 20th century, rail transport in Europe was dominate ...
) amended directive 91/440 to include reference to the ''Trans European Rail Freight Network'', and future access by 2007 by licensed rail freight operators of all the European rail network as originally described in directive 2001/12.


Contents

The following summarises the Directive's contents: *art 1, management of infrastructure and rail, licensing, access charges *art 2, not for urban or regional services *art 3, definitions *art 4, Independence of railway undertakings and infrastructure managers *art 5, Management of the railway undertakings according to commercial principles *art 6, separate accounts *art 7, independence of essential functions of an infrastructure manager *art 8, financing infrastructure, 5-year strategies, state funding *art 9(1) bailouts: 'Without prejudice to Union rules on State aid and in accordance with Articles 93, 107 and 108 TFEU, Member States shall set up appropriate mechanisms to help reduce the indebtedness of publicly owned or controlled railway undertakings to a level which does not impede sound financial management and which improves their financial situation.' *art 10, Conditions of access to railway infrastructure (1) 'Railway undertakings shall be granted, under equitable, non-discriminatory and transparent conditions, the right to access to the railway infrastructure in all Member States for the purpose of operating all types of rail freight services.' (2) and passengers *art 11, limits on access rights *art 12, levy on railway undertakings doing passenger services *art 13(1) 'Infrastructure managers shall supply to all railway undertakings, in a non-discriminatory manner, the minimum access package laid down in point 1 of Annex II.' *arts 14–15, cross border agreements, Commission monitoring *art 16, licensing authority in each member state *art 17–22, licensing requirements *arts 23–25, license validity and procedure *arts 26–37, infrastructure access charging *arts 55–57, each MS should have a single regulator for rail, functions and cooperation *art 58, Procurement Directive 2004/17/EC *arts 59–67, final *Annex I, list of infrastructure items *Annex II, in access, services to be supplied to railway undertakings *Annex VI, requirements for costs and charges for access


Significance

Though the original directive was seen by some as a law bringing about privatisation of the railways, there are no requirements in the legislation requiring any level of privatisation. The main aim of the process was the "de-monopolisation" of European railways, with the aim of increasing competitiveness, a process referred to as 'liberalisation'. There has also been a large increase in the number of private freight providers, many relatively small such as Rail4chem and
ERS Railways ERS Railways (formerly European Rail Shuttle B.V.) is a fully independent railway company, 100% owned by Freightliner Group Ltd., with five offices in four countries across Europe. With a modern fleet of locomotives and over 400 leased conta ...
, but the national companies still control the majority of the traffic. Deutsche Bahn has expanded considerably in the rail freight market, with the purchase of the freight section of the Dutch railway company NS (now DB Schenker Rail Nederland), EWS (UK), and DSB goods (Denmark) amongst others. The French state rail company SNCF also expanded through acquisitions, raising the possibility of trans-national virtual monopolies on rail freight replacing former national monopolies, or a potential duopoly between SNCF and Deutsche Bahn in most of western Europe. A subsidiary of the British company
DB Schenker Rail (UK) DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...
,
EuroCargoRail DB Cargo France is a French rail freight operator. It is presently a subsidiary of the German state-owned logistics company DB Cargo. DB Cargo France was originally established as Euro Cargo Rail (ECR) in early 2005 by the British freight compa ...
, operates trains in France and Spain, a situation unlikely prior to the liberalisation. The increase in cross-border traffic has fuelled demand for multiple voltage electric locomotives such as Bombardier's
TRAXX Alstom Traxx (sold as Bombardier TRAXX before 2021) is a modular product platform of mainline diesel-electric and electric locomotives produced originally by Bombardier Transportation and later Alstom, which was built in both freight and pass ...
, Siemens's
Eurosprinter The EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives is a modular concept of locomotives for the European market built by Siemens Mobility. The internal Siemens product name is ES 64, with ES for EuroSprinter and the number 64 indicating the 6,400  ...
and electric versions of Alstom's Prima locomotives series. In passenger transport, large transport corporations have been created, or expanded into the rail market from other related activities such as
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Veolia Veolia Environnement S.A., branded as Veolia, is a French transnational company with activities in three main service and utility areas traditionally managed by public authorities – water management, waste management and energy services. It pr ...
, Serco and
Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.British Rail, additionally the regulations favour competitive practice which are not necessarily compatible with workers rights.


Implementation

In the years following the introduction of the mandates different countries implemented them to different extents and at different paces. By 2004, some countries such as the United Kingdom had gone far beyond the original remit privatising the railway system on
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
(but not
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
), others such as Finland and France had created fully separate infrastructure and railway companies from the state-run enterprises; still others, such as Germany, had created separate subsidiaries for different service providers and subsidiaries for infrastructure and track (
DB Netz DB Netz AG is a major subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn that owns and operates a majority of the German railway system (2019: 33,291 km). It is one of the largest railway infrastructure manager by length and transport volume of its network. The ...
). Yet others merely separated accounting between the two organisational sections. Most countries in the EU still have a state-owned infrastructure company, but many have privatised part or all of their service providers, or are working towards privatisation. In June 2010, the European Commission instigated legal proceedings through the European Court of Justice against 13 states that had not fully implemented the set of directives (known as the 'first railway package'). The countries not having fully implemented the legislation to the commission's satisfaction were Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. In 2012 action against Germany and Austria on the basis that their infrastructure and operating companies were insufficiently separate was rejected by the European Court of Justice. Portugal, Spain and Hungary remained as having not yet fully complied with the aspects of the directives. Legal action against Bulgaria was passed to the Court of Justice in 2012 for non-implementation. In February 2013 the European Court of Justice ruled that the governments of Hungary and Spain had failed to liberalise their railways; infrastructure management was not sufficiently separated from train operation. Ireland derogated its obligation to implement the legislation; until 2012 Iarnród Éireann train operations and infrastructure businesses remained unsplit, and a similar situation existed in Northern Ireland.


See also

*
Arrangements between railroads Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may co ...
– arrangements in gaining track access in other countries *
ERTMS The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the ...
– A pan-European signalling system being promoted by the EU. * EU Directive 2001/16 – standards for interoperability of rail systems. See
Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
19 March 2001 Interoperability of conventional rail systems ''eur-lex.europa.eu'' *
Second Railway Package The Second Railway Package is a group of European Union legislation which promote common standards and open access, working towards an integrated European railway area. History For much of the 20th century, rail transport in Europe was dominate ...
, related legislation concerning primarily safety and interoperability * Third railway package *
Fourth railway package The fourth railway package is a set of changes to rail transport regulation in the European Union law. It covers standards and authorisation for rolling stock; workforce skills; independent management of infrastructure; and the liberalisation ...


Notes


References


External links


Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community's railways
Text of the directive 91/440 in all official European languages. ''eur-lex.europa.eu''
Directive 2004/51/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 29 April 2004 amending Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community's railways
Text of the directive 2004/51 in all official European languages. ''eur-lex.europa.eu''
Implementation of EU directive 91/440 by country
''eur-lex.europa.eu''
Development of the Community's railways
Summary of legislation – (directives 91/440 and 2004/51) ''europa.eu''
Licensing of railway undertakings
Summary of legislation – (directives 2005/49, 95/18 and 2001/14) ''europa.eu''
www.x-rail.org
List of EU directives, legislation and white papers, general information on European railways. (including non-EU members) Non-affiliated.
National Railway Reform in Japan and the EU: Evaluation of Institutional changes
Andrea Obermauer, Japan Railway and Transport Review 29, 12/2001 ''www.jrtr.net'' {{Authority control Transport and the European Union European Union directives 1991 in law 1991 in the European Economic Community 1991 in rail transport Railway01