Rail shake-up unveiled

New proposals to throw open international rail passenger services to competition were unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday.

The 'third railway package' is trumpeted by EU transport chief Loyola de Palacio as "ambitious and realistic".

Brussels proposals aim to promote travel on European railways as a competitive alternative to road and budget air travel.

"In 2010, the high-speed trans-European network will be connected and new services will be able to develop on the basis of competition," said the commissioner.

"Pressure from low-cost airlines is already a reality for international rail passenger services: they will have to evolve into new models and this is without any doubt the right time to free up initiatives."

Under the shake-up, cross border European travel - currently dominated by big players such as Thalys and Eurostar -  will be thrown open to competition.

Rival companies will able to pick up and drop off passengers at stations on international trips in the same EU country.

There are also plans for an EU wide recognised licence for train drivers, and most controversially, a system for compensation for delayed rail passengers - modelled on existing rules in place in some European countries.

Brussels plans to compensate delayed travellers all or half of the price of their tickets depending on the length of their journey.

For example, if a rail passenger was delayed for 30 to 60 minutes on a journey of up to 2 hours, they would be entitled to 50 per cent compensation, and full reimbursement if the delay was over one hour.

European rail companies have already expressed concern at the plans, arguing that regulating passenger rights should be left to the industry and voluntary codes of conduct already drawn up.

Another proposal that industry will be watching closely are measures to introduce minimum quality clauses for freight services in contracts between railway companies and their customers.

Brussels argues that European railways are losing their market share of freight - unlike the US.

According to the commission, 40 per cent of freight travels on US railways, while in Europe, the share of the market is just seven per cent.

De Palacio said that the new proposals were part of pulling the railway sector into the 21st century and improving the service.

"25,000 trains carry goods across the EU each year," said the commissioner. "One out of two are two or three hours late and one in ten are a day late.

"This means uncertainty for customers and makes it difficult to use rail as competitive mode of goods transport. We need a functioning transport system.

"People need to know when their goods are going to arrive. They want basic rules in place for quality rail freight transport."

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