Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Antitrust and Competitors
Fee approves German scheme compensating public transport firms
On 7 August 2020, the European Fee accepted €6 billion in German state assist to compensate regional and native public transport firms. The help will go in direction of public transport firms that confronted damages because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Below the scheme, the transport firms shall be entitled to compensation within the type of direct grants for damages incurred between 1 March and 31 August 2020. Germany has ensured that no particular person transport operator will obtain extra in compensation than it has suffered in damages and that any cost in extra of the particular harm shall be recovered.
European Fee clears Alstom’s acquisition of Bombardier Transportation
On 31 July 2020, the European Fee introduced that’s has cleared Alstom’s acquisition of Canada’s Bombardier, topic to concessions.
Government Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, answerable for competitors coverage, mentioned:
Because of the great cures supplied to unravel the competitors considerations within the areas of very high-speed, mainline trains and mainline signalling, the Fee has been capable of speedily evaluate and approve this transaction. Thanks to those cures, the brand new firm may even proceed to be challenged in its core markets to the good thing about European prospects and shoppers.
The set of concessions supplied by Alstom to acquire clearance are discovered under:
A switch of Bombardier Transportation’s contribution to the V300 ZEFIRO high-speed practice and a suggestion of mental property license to Hitachi for the practice co-developed by Hitachi and Bombardier Transportation to be used in future high-speed tenders in the UK.
The divestment of the Alstom Coradia Polyvalent and the Reichshoffen manufacturing website in France.
The divestment of the Bombardier TALENT three platform and devoted manufacturing amenities positioned throughout the Hennigsdorf website in Germany.
The offering of entry to sure interfaces and merchandise for a few of Bombardier Transportation’s signaling on-board models and practice management administration techniques.
The divestitures will adjust to all relevant social processes and consultations with worker representatives’ our bodies.
The transaction stays topic to additional regulatory approvals in a number of different jurisdictions and customary closing circumstances.
The choice comes lower than two years after European Union (EU) competitors chief Margrethe Vestager had blocked the rail merger between Alstom and Germany’s Siemens. The merger will create the world’s second largest practice maker, after China’s CRRC.
Strategic French metal companies acquired
Liberty Metal Group (LSG), a part of Sanjeev Gupta’s sustainable trade chief GFG Alliance, has received the tender for the acquisition of the strategic French metal belongings of France Rail Business enterprise (Hayange) and the Ascoval steelworks.
Following the choice in July by the Tribunal de Grande Occasion de Strasbourg to award Hayange to LSG, the French authorities accepted the transaction on 14 August.
GFG Alliance has introduced that it intends to develop Ascoval as a Greensteel hub and to push Hayange in direction of new markets, making a strategic engagement with predominant European rail firms and aspiring to make their networks carbon-neutral.
Rail Regulatory and Coverage
The Council helps the European Yr of Rail initiative
On 24 June 2020, the European Council agreed on a negotiated mandate of the European Yr of Rail initiative proposed by the European Fee in March. The proposal goals to advertise a inexperienced, protected and revolutionary mode of transport. The European Yr of Rail will assist the supply of the European Inexperienced Deal targets, thereby accelerating the shift to sustainable and good mobility to cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions. Specifically, a considerable a part of the 75 p.c of inland freight carried at the moment by street ought to shift onto rail and inland waterways.
Croatian Minister of Transport and President of the Council, Oleg Butković, mentioned: “Environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient, rail will play an important function in serving to the EU develop into local weather impartial by 2050. The COVID-19 disaster has additionally proven how rail transport can facilitate the provision of important items reminiscent of medical units, meals and gasoline in distinctive circumstances.”
The adjustments to the mandate launched by the European Council embrace:
A number of necessary themes have been added to the initiative, such because the function of railways in end-to-end mobility, enhance the capability of railway infrastructure, and informing rail passengers of their rights and of the supply of through-ticketing.
The European Fee has been requested to launch a feasibility research on the creation of a European label to advertise items transported by rail. Such a label would additionally encourage companies to shift their transport to rail. The European Fee is to tell of its plans by the top of March 2021.
Introduction of the usage of key efficiency indicators to make the analysis of the outcomes of the European Yr of Rail actions extra strong and to make use of such indicators for its report, which is due by the top of 2022.
Public session launched on the way forward for transport
On 1 July 2020, the European Fee launched a public session on the way forward for transport to permit each stakeholders and residents to remark and establish their priorities. This could allow the European Fee to raised perceive how the EU can assist the sector develop into extra sustainable, aggressive, fashionable, and resilient to crises.
Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean added:
We’re encouraging our residents and stakeholders to participate within the public session we’re launching at the moment. Mobility is a key precedence and our new technique goals at making a crisis-proof transport system for us and for the generations to return. We will begin from restoration and construct on this basis a stable construction, match each for the challenges and benefits of a extra digital and inexperienced future.
The session shall be open till 23 September and is on the market on the “Have your say” portal. Residents and stakeholders are invited to log in and share their suggestions and opinions.
Germany commits in direction of sustainability rail summit
On 30 June 2020, throughout a Rail Summit hosted by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in Berlin, the German federal authorities underlined its dedication to funding within the rail sector by introducing a program to allow important will increase in market share. The long-term program goals at doubling the variety of passengers by 2030 and carrying “considerably extra” freight in addition to:
delivering extra capability, because of digitalization and the upgrading of particular routes, corridors and nodes;
introduce extra on-rail competitors;
enhance rail’s environmental efficiency and scale back noise from trains;
introduce extra revolutionary automobiles and applied sciences and promote extra analysis;
present extra extremely motivated and certified employees because of good working circumstances; and
entice extra freight to rail.
European Fee opens infringement proceedings towards Greece and Italy for failure to adjust to EU guidelines defending rights of passengers
On 2 July 2020, the European Fee launched infringement proceedings by sending letters of formal discover to Greece and Italy for being in violation of EU guidelines defending rights of passengers. The 2 international locations took measures that don’t adjust to EU guidelines on air passenger rights (Regulation (EC) No 261/2004) and on waterborne journey (Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010), by adopting laws permitting carriers to supply vouchers as the one type of reimbursement. Below the EU passenger rights regulation, passengers have the proper to decide on between reimbursement in cash and different types of refund, reminiscent of a voucher. Greece and Italy now have two months to answer to the arguments raised by the European Fee.
European Union invests over €2 billion in 140 key transport tasks
On 16 July 2020, the EU declared that it will likely be supporting the financial restoration in all member states by investing nearly €2 billion into 140 key transport tasks. The tasks will obtain funding by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and are geared toward reinforcing transport hyperlinks throughout the continent, assist sustainable transport, and create jobs.
The EU goals to realize the local weather targets set out within the European Inexperienced Deal by reinforcing railways, together with cross-border hyperlinks and connections to ports and airports. Inland waterway transport can be boosted by extra capability and higher multimodal connections to the street and rail networks.
The EU will primarily assist:
Rail infrastructure tasks positioned on the Trans-European Transport Community (TEN-T) with a complete of €1.6 billion (55 tasks). This contains, for instance, the Rail Baltica challenge, which integrates the Baltic states within the European rail community, in addition to the cross-border part of the railway line between Dresden (Germany) and Prague (Czechia).
The shift to greener fuels for transport (19 tasks). With nearly €142 million, quite a lot of tasks contain changing vessels so they could run on liquefied pure gasoline, in addition to putting in corresponding infrastructure in ports.
Street transport by deploying an alternate fuels infrastructure, particularly by the set up of 17,275 charging factors on the street community and the deployment of 355 new buses.
Moreover, 9 tasks with a funds of €49.eight million will contribute to an interoperable railway system within the EU and the optimum operation of trains throughout the continent by the European Rail Site visitors Administration System (ERTMS) by upgrading locomotives and railway observe to the unified European practice management system, which is able to enhance security, scale back journey occasions, and optimize observe utilization.
Draft guidelines on a brand new regulation establishing measures for a sustainable rail market
The Proposal, revealed on 19 June 2020, highlights guidelines that can permit EU international locations to cut back, waive or defer observe entry fees. The brand new regulation would additionally apply to the usage of infrastructure for home and worldwide rail companies lined by Directive 2012/34/EU from 1 March 2020 till 31 December 2020. These measures are launched to mitigate the impression of the Covid-19 pandemic within the rail sector.
DG MOVE’s Elisabeth Werner instructed transport committee MEPs that the brand new laws ought to be handed as quickly as attainable. She expanded declaring “different sectors have had rapidly accepted assist measures, we hope this would be the case for this one as nicely. This risk to cut back observe entry and different infrastructure fees is a clear manner of offering assist and most of all it’s non-discriminatory.”
Public Procurement and New Initiatives
Renfe awards CAF €250 million
On 1 July 2020, Renfe awarded Spanish practice group Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) a €250 million contract for the provision of 37 metric gauge trains. The automobiles shall be used on Renfe’s traces enhancing rail companies in Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, and the Basque Nation.
Below the contracts, CAF will ship electrical and hybrid trainsets to realize extra sustainable mobility. The brand new trains can exchange different technique of transport for each brief and long-distance journeys as a result of their consumption capability and effectivity, and they’re going to additionally play an necessary function in growing how transport shall be sooner or later.
Renfe is at present implementing an funding scheme (components loaned by the European Funding Financial institution (EIB)) of €5 billion funds to interchange a big a part of its outdated practice fleet.
German and Austrian tender launched for tram-train procurement
On 11 August 2020, six German and Austrian public transport firms launched a standard €four billion tender for the procurement of 504 tram-trains. This shall be achieved below the VDV-Tram-Practice challenge and also will embrace a upkeep contract for a interval of 32 years.
VBK, the Karlsruhe Transport Firm, Saarbahn Netz, Schiene Oberösterreich, the transport operator within the Higher Austrian area, the State of Salzburg, and the regional Stadtbahn Neckar-Alb affiliation are the challenge companions. The widespread tender will assist firms to supply mild rail automobiles for as much as €1 million much less per car, as these trains may have a normal design which is able to permit for such financial savings.
The governing board of Shift2Rail approves the European DAC Supply Program
Shift2Rail, the primary European rail initiative to hunt targeted analysis and innovation, has accepted the European Digital Computerized {Couples} (DAC) Supply Programme, which is able to assist freight shift in direction of railways, enhance rail market share, and thus assist the European Inexperienced Deal’s precedence to shift 75 p.c of EU freight transport from street to rail.
The European DAC Supply program contains three predominant actions:
The collection of an open, practical, and operationally examined, protected, and sustainable European DAC mannequin prepared for industrialization and deployment.
The supply of a last, open design of the chosen mannequin, primarily based on use-case concerns by the top of 2021 and its interoperability and security necessities, which could possibly be integrated into the Technical Specs Interoperability, European Inexperienced Deal, and digitalization package deal in 2022.
The identification of migration and enterprise plans suitable throughout Europe, in addition to the required assets to match them.
EIB to finance Trenitalia hybrid trainsets
On 24 July 2020, the EIB agreed to a €450m financing package deal that can assist Trenitalia’s plans to order 135 electric-diesel-battery hybrid regional a number of models at whole price. The models are for use in areas together with Calabria, Lazio, Molise, Toscana, and Valle d’Aosta, in addition to in Sicily and Sardinia. They are going to use standard overhead electrification the place accessible, with “cutting-edge” diesel engines for operation on nonelectrified routes, in addition to batteries to permit emission-free transport in nonelectrified city areas.
Sweden: Direct evening practice to Brussels in 2022
On 23 July 2020, a deal was reached by Sweden’s coalition authorities for the nation to fund a direct practice connection between Malmö and Brussels. The service ought to be beginning in the summertime of 2022. The Swedish Transport Administration has been tasked by the Social Democrat-Inexperienced authorities with procuring sleeper carriages and organizing timetables for 2 separate routes, to place trains on the Malmö-Brussels route starting 1 August 2022. A direct Stockholm-Hamburg connection can be deliberate. Presently, a visit to Brussels from Malmö would contain a minimum of three adjustments in Copenhagen, Hamburg, and Cologne.
Rail Baltica receives an extra €184 million in funding
The overall funding in direction of the challenge has now reached €216 million. €1.2 billion nationwide and European funding is on the market for the implementation of the challenge throughout the three Baltic states. The Rail Baltica World challenge has been allotted €128 million for development work and € 88 million for technical design and planning work. To this point, the Rail Baltica hall has acquired the most important monetary allocation (55 p.c) from the full accessible funding of the 2019 CEF Cohesion Transport name.
Progress report revealed on TEN-T community
On 26 August 2020, the European Fee revealed a progress report on the work achieved to implement the TEN-T, concluding that important progress was made throughout 2016 and 2017, with regard to technical compliance and monetary investments.
The TEN-T community should adjust to EU necessities. The progress report calculated with a sequence of research the extent of compliance with EU necessities, which is estimated at 81–100 p.c. The achievement might be straight linked to a €91 billion funding within the TEN-T that helped to shut compliance gaps. The very best share of this funding (€80 billion), together with EU co-funding, has been invested within the core community, with most going to TEN-T railways (together with ERTMS).
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