Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-25-Speech-4-087"
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"en.20100225.5.4-087"2
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"Mr President, of course, this discussion, now initiated by the tragic accident in Belgium, will be part of our overall discussion on railway safety and the development of transport in Europe. The Commission is preparing a White Paper on the future of transport which takes serious consideration of all safety and security aspects of all modes of transport, including railways – which is, as was mentioned many times, still one of the safest modes of transport.
It is also important that we now discuss the railway package – the ‘first recast’ of the railway package – and we will definitely work on this and consider it.
But I would just like to make some factual remarks. The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) has been designed with the intention to have interoperability of railways. It is obviously a good system which has very serious safety elements. However, safety still remains the responsibility of Member States, whatever system is used. But the ERTMS is progressing very well.
Transport TEN-T Networks: again we will discuss it soon. This particular project deals with the deployment of the traffic management system. By 2020, 20 000 kilometres of railways will use this system in Europe, including Belgium.
This is ongoing; but in railways, things take time and investments are large and 85% of the TEN-T Network money is used especially to improve the railways, including the ERTMS. Of course, I would be very happy if, with the support of the European Parliament, we could increase the funding of investments to transport networks. That will be very important.
But again, of course, the human factor is always relevant. And as we are talking about safety standards, there is one standard – which is the red light – that means that you must stop. That standard has existed since the 19th century. So if we are now saying that there will be a 100% sure braking system which avoids human error – it is not true. There is always some small possibility for human error. And human responsibility is very important.
I would like to make one more remark about liberalisation and public services: these are two different things. Nobody is stopping states from offering good public services, even in the framework of liberalisation. It is allowed by European rules to provide support – it is allowed by states – and this liberalisation does not exclude good public services."@en1
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