{"id":166636,"date":"2025-01-13T23:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T13:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=59020"},"modified":"2025-01-13T23:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T13:31:07","slug":"rail-freight-wants-to-move-away-from-status-quo-with-capacity-management-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=166636","title":{"rendered":"Rail freight wants to \u201cmove away from status quo\u201d with Capacity Management Regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the European Commission, Parliament and Council of the European Union are negotiating on the content of the Railway Capacity Management Regulation, the rail freight sector is making sure its voice gets heard. The final form of the regulation might have far-reaching implications for the industry, and as such, associations are calling for an ambitious and international approach.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The open letter from the industry is an initiative by the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), which is joined by 11 other sector parties. ERFA explains that the new regulation seeks to move European railway capacity allocation from a system which is \u201cmanual, national and rigid\u201d to a \u201cdigital, international and flexible\u201d system. In the rail freight sector, the regulation will be particularly impactful as over half of all trains cross international borders.<\/p>\n

The three European Union bodies are currently negotiating over various unknowns of the regulation, such as governance, incentives to ensure good capacity management and whether or not capacity allocation frameworks should be legally binding.<\/p>\n

In their open letter<\/a>, the twelve associations put forward seven points that they consider crucial to the regulation\u2019s success, and call for a \u201cmove away from the status quo\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The twelve associations call for the following seven measures to be included in the regulation:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. European capacity allocation frameworks should be able to be legally binding, with exceptions being proposed in a transparent process and approved by regulatory bodies. National bodies should not be allowed to independently overrule frameworks agreed upon internationally.<\/p>\n

2. The regulation should introduce \u201cstrong and robust\u201d incentives through reciprocal commercial conditions so that capacity is allocated with a focus on a cross-border train\u2019s original path. In that way, the negative impact of bottlenecks can be reduced.<\/p>\n

3. Any changes to train paths should be treated in their entirety, particularly when more than one infrastructure manager is involved.<\/p>\n

4. The regulation requires the use of objective, transparent and balanced European socio-economic and environmental criteria for capacity allocation as an allocation method of last resort, when national bodies\u2019 methods diverge.<\/p>\n

5. KPIs on cross-border freight train punctuality, as contained in the TEN-T Guidelines Regulation, should also be recited in the capacity management regulation in recognition of the impact of the latter on their delivery.<\/p>\n

6. A platform should allow rail undertakings to be consulted throughout the process of creating European capacity allocation frameworks.<\/p>\n

7. As the capacity management regulation will revoke the earlier Rail Freight Corridor Regulation, the new regulation cannot be a deterioration compared to the current status quo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Right direction<\/h2>\n

Conor Feighan, ERFA\u2019s Secretary General, commented: \u201cWhat is particularly important is that this proposed Regulation does not lead to a deterioration or lack of legal certainty for companies involved in rail freight. The Regulation will revoke important initiatives such as the \u2018Rail Freight Corridors\u2019 Regulation, so if negotiating parties are to reach an agreement, we need to be certain it is a step in the right direction and not a step into the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n