Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-22-Speech-3-526"
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"en.20090422.63.3-526"2
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"Madam President, honourable Members, Mr Duchoň, for my part I would like to thank Parliament for having agreed to look at this proposal so promptly; I believe it is extremely important for the development of rail freight transport. My particular thanks go to the rapporteur, Mr Duchoň, and the Committee on Transport and Tourism for their willingness and the quality of the work carried out, which has helped to strengthen a legislative proposal aimed primarily at better integrated rail transport at European level through closer cooperation between infrastructure managers.
Rail transport is the last – I would emphasise this, the last – mode of transport to retain a highly national dimension. Crossing a border by train can still be difficult in many cases. The infrastructure managers are to a large extent responsible for this difficulty, and so we need to encourage them to work together, whether in terms of infrastructure management or planning and carrying out investment.
The infrastructure for freight needs to be brought under European policy as it already has a significant international dimension. I would remind you that 50% of freight services are now international, and that this is set to increase in future.
Secondly, the proposal aims to enable the expansion of rail freight transport services. This sector cannot develop and compete with and/or supplement the road sector without a considerable improvement of the infrastructure made available for freight trains. Today, in the vast majority of Member States, rail freight transport is required to fit around the needs of passenger transport. Unfortunately that much is true for both infrastructure management and investment.
Thirdly, thanks to this proposal, it will be possible to integrate the railways into the freight transport system more successfully, and to develop co-modality in Europe. In fact, in order for rail transport to be able to make a substantial contribution to the Community’s transport goals, railway infrastructure must be better linked to other modes of transport, especially sea and road transport.
In addition to the main objectives of the proposal, though, I would like to mention four essential principles on which the text we are discussing is based. The first principle is the identification of corridors and thus of the network. This identification is based on economic rather than political factors. The second principle is strengthened cooperation between infrastructure managers. The third principle, which I would like to look at in more detail, concerns better guarantees in terms of the quality and reliability of services provided by the infrastructure, thanks to provisions designed to strike a better balance between passenger and freight traffic in infrastructure management.
This does not mean systematically giving priority to freight trains over passenger trains on the entire national network; on the contrary – let me make this clear – this concerns dedicated freight corridors, that is to say specific and clearly identified lines. Freight trains will not therefore be systematically penalised, especially where there is a greater need for speed and/or punctuality. This, in our opinion, is what we mean in practice when we talk about defining freight corridors or promoting competitive freight transport.
Finally, the fourth pillar is the definition and creation of a real network of strategic terminals. In this case, the word ‘terminal’ is used in the widest sense, to include rail yards, port terminals, logistical platforms, roads, railways, and so on, which are indispensable for the proper functioning of freight corridors and the transport system as a whole.
That was what I wanted to say, and I would like to thank you again for Parliament’s promptness and efficiency, it makes me proud to remember that I was myself a Member of this House for many years. The rapporteur and the transport committee deserve to be congratulated on their work. Thank you."@en1
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