The European Commission (EC) adopted new guidelines on how to set up track access charges (TAC), a burdensome aspect for rail freight in many member states. However, as it is often the case, these are Interpretative Guidelines, meaning they are not binding “and do not create any new legal obligations” and are thus less likely to affect change.
TAC in Europe can have up to three components: mandatory charges to recover the direct costs of infrastructure managers (IMs); optional mark-ups; and optional charges related to scarcity or congestion. The guidelines provided by the Commission focus on mark-ups and other optional charges.
A fragmented outlook
EU member states have significantly different approaches when it comes to setting up TAC and possible mark-ups. “The factor that has probably most influenced their choices is the amount of funding that they receive from the State”, the Commission highlighted. In other words, some IMs need higher TAC because their government does not sufficiently support them.
In countries such as Germany, Belgium and Estonia, for example, TAC contribute to over 40% of the total funds of the IMs, as governments allocate fewer resources to them. On the other hand, in Finland, Croatia, Czechia and Sweden, public support is much higher and funds from TAC constitute less than 10% of the IMs’ general funding.
Another risk highlighted by the EC is that IMs might decide to implement mark-ups based on how much money they receive from the state and how much they still need to make ends meet. This is a problem because such an approach does not consider whether the market, or which market segments, can bear a TAC increase. This is quite damaging for rail freight, as their ability to pay additional mark-ups is usually non-existent, as transport expert Andrea Giuricin highlighted.
A seemingly unanswerable question
Despite these issues, governments are not allowed to interfere too much, as the EC’s guidelines confirmed. For example, setting a maximum charge for the use of the railways would be considered as interference with the independence of IMs. But, if national governments cannot interfere and EU guidelines remain applicable on a voluntary basis, how can the issue of TAC be concretely solved?