Source: https://jarnvagar.nu/eu-beslut-om-sparkapacitet-i-var/

EU decision on track capacity this spring

Johan Danielsson (S) will be responsible negotiator for the social democratic group in the EU Parliament when the Parliament and the Council must agree on a capacity regulation for the European railways.

Text : Ulf Nyström Photo : Kasper Dudzik

"There are different opinions about the trade-off between national and international traffic and the trade-off between goods trains and passenger trains, but I think we should be able to come to an agreement," says Johan Danielsson.

The EU will probably make a decision on a so-called Capacity Regulation in the spring. It will regulate how the capacity of can be increased with current railways and how the space on the tracks is to be distributed.

Negotiations will begin shortly

On Monday last week, the European Parliament decided to start negotiations with the Council of the European Union on the design of the Capacity Regulation. The council consists of the ministers from the 27 member states. The negotiations are led by the EU Commission.

Johan Danielsson is a member of the committee for transport and tourism.

"The EU and many countries in the EU have previously decided that more goods should be transferred from road to rail, but right now the trend is going in the wrong direction," says Johan Danielsson.

"We are not even close to the ambitions that exist for freight traffic by rail."

"The tracks must be used better"

"In the short term, we must make better use of the tracks, but in the longer term, the EU countries must expand capacity so that more trains can be run."

Johan Danielsson, like so many others, has noted that it has become increasingly difficult to operate international train traffic in Europe.

"The national interests have taken over and the capacity is distributed in favor of national traffic in many countries," he says.

"The situation is alarming"

” The situation is alarming and risks worsening. The national interests must be balanced and there must be room for trains that roll across national borders, both freight trains and passenger trains,"

The capacity regulation which, by all accounts, may be adopted by the Parliament and the Council this spring will regulate how the capacity shall be distributed between national and international traffic and they shall guarantee a minimum capacity for international freight traffic.

"It must be possible to improve the processes for capacity allocation and traffic management," says Johan Danielsson.

"The individual countries should not be given the opportunity to suppress international freight traffic. We need to create strong rules that guarantee the accessibility of goods by rail across Europe.”

Hope for broad solutions

Johan Danielsson hopes for broad solutions that all countries can get behind.

"But you realize that Sweden and, for example, Germany have completely different conditions," he says.

"Sweden has insignificant transit traffic by rail, Germany has a lot of freight traffic into the country, out of the country and through the country."

There are differences of opinion between the political blocs in Europe, even if, according to Danielsson, they are not so striking when it comes to the distribution of capacity on the railways.

"As I understand it, there is a consensus among the Swedish politicians in the European Parliament about the necessity of facilitating cross-border traffic," says Johan Danielsson.

"For Swedish industry, it is crucial that there is a climate-smart and efficient way to transport goods on the continent by rail."