EUROPE: The European Commission has adopted interpretive guidelines on the setting of track access charges, with the aim of helping national authorities apply the regulatory framework of Single European Railway Directive 2012/34/EU in a consistent way and to prevent mark-ups being a barrier to market entry.
The Commmsion said track access charges represent a significant source of revenue for infrastructure managers and form a large portion of train operators’ costs. A well-designed scheme can play an important role in promoting market entry, the optimal use of the network and the competitiveness of the rail sector, it added.
The guidance focuses on uncertain applications and divergent practices, including optional mark-ups which can be charged on top of the costs directly incurred as a result of operating train services.
The Commssion believes the levying of mark-ups with a view to full cost recovery is optional rather than obligatory, and must respect principles of efficiency, transparency and non-discrimination. Comparable services should pay the same mark-ups for equivalent use of the infrastructure, and operators performing equivalent services in the same market segment should not be differentiated according to the type of equipment or rolling stock, except for any possible difference in the direct costs that they cause.
Mark-ups should not be set at a level that would prevent rail from competing effectively with other modes of transport, and available capacity can only be denied to an operator willing to pay the direct costs if that capacity has been requested for an alternative use.
The infrastructure manager can define different submarket segments for services operated under PSO contracts, but these should contribute equitably to the recovery of infrastructure costs, without a disproportionate burden being placed on other market segments or crowding-out of open access services.
The Commission said congestion charges can be designed in a variety of ways and are a valuable tool to promote efficient use of networks. Path reservation charges should be used in conjunction with capacity allocation processes to better align capacity requests with actual needs and to reduce cancellation costs. Discounts can be particularly useful for promoting new or enhanced services.
The guidelines were welcomed by the AllRail alliance of new entrants to the passenger market, which said high fixed costs are a barrier to entry for commercially driven open access services.
’When the fixed cost of a high track access charge is between 30% and 70% of the total expense of providing a passenger rail service, then this means a high upfront cost before even attracting a single revenue paying passenger’, AllRail told Railway Gazette International. ’Furthermore, it is a much higher fixed cost that other less sustaniable transport modes have to pay for using their infrastructure. Therefore we welcome these new guidelines and hope that they are major step towards a fairer and more affordable track access fee system that will encourage the establishment and growth of new open access rail services.’
