MEPs debate on new railway legislation proposals

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) debated here on Monday evening at its plenary session a package of new railway legislation proposals, which aim to help EU countries improve the sector.

The fourth railway package seeks to pump up the 71-billion-euro sector (in 2014, according to European Commission figures) via increased interoperability and safety standards between national networks, market liberalization, and social impact balancing.

Monday evening's debate focused on three closely-linked proposals, including the so-called "technical pillar" on interoperability having been adopted by Parliament during its April plenary session.

"This wasn't an easy package to deal with," admitted Wim van de Camp, an MEP from the Netherlands, who's also a rapporteur for one of the proposals.

"We're talking about further market opening on rail in Europe," he said during the debate.

The difficulty of the process was reiterated by fellow rapporteur David-Maria Sassoli of Italy, saying "We've now been working for three years and two months and finally we've reached a conclusion on these negotiations."

The three proposals under debate deal with normalization of the accounts of railway undertakings, the liberalization of domestic passenger transport services by rail, and the creation of a single European railway area.

The rules also attempt to make it easier for companies to compete for public service contracts.

Proposed harmonization between several member states and national railway systems, however, have created concerns about social impact and consequences, even if the fourth railway package is expected to improve service quality and lower fares for passengers following increased investment.

Following the lengthy discussions, rapporteur van de Camp hoped there would be a balance "between the dynamics of opening the market and the protection of workers."

The railway sector in Europe makes up close to 5 percent of the EU gross domestic product, according to the European Commission, and has 215,000 kilometers of track length in the EU, which is almost enough to circumvent the planet five times.

However, railway transport share has decreased since 1970, despite average fare increases of 42.6 percent between 2005 and 2015.

MEPs also hope that by increasing the use of trains, emissions could be cut across Europe, which is an important objective set in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Endite