The European association of rail infrastructure managers, EIM, welcomes the proposal of the European Commission (EC) for a Regulation on the use of railway infrastructure capacity in the single European railway area (Regulation). The Regulation shall help making rail more competitive by optimizing the utilization of capacity of rail infrastructure via the rollout of the Time-Table Redesign (TTR) as well as other measures.

To achieve this objective, the EC introduces a new legal framework, which regulates a large number of aspects, such as
a) the scheduling, allocation and management of infrastructure capacity;
b) the adaptation and rescheduling of infrastructure capacity after allocation;
c) compensation principles;
d) performance review;
e) governance including deadlines for their delivery.

The EC entrusts the development of this framework to the European Network of Rail Infrastructure Managers (ENIM) which is supported by a Network Coordinator (NC). Regulatory bodies will work together in the European Network of Rail Regulatory Bodies (ENRRB) and there will be a newly set up Performance Review Body (PRB). The EC also intends to adopt non-legislative acts based on some of the deliverables of ENIM.

EIM welcomes the holistic approach to capacity management on a European level and the fact that it builds on the projects and processes developed by rail infrastructure managers, in particular in the area of timetabling. Nevertheless, EIM considers that some criteria and requirements need to be addressed further.

With this note, EIM seizes the opportunity to give input to the proposed Regulation. For that purpose, EIM has identified, together with its experts, the most relevant key success factors. They are meant to contribute to a genuine Single European Railway Area from a capacity management perspective and bring this Regulation to life.

Read the full joint Position Paper :