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January 2013
UNIFE briefing
for the Irish Presidency
of the European Union
www.unife.org

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will start the political year with an Annual Paper Reception held in Brussels on 26 February
2013. At the presence of Vice-President FSC Certified of the Recycled European Paper Commission Siim
www.geograph.ie
www.myguideireland.com
Kallas, Benedikt Weibel, former CEO of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Dr
www.insideview.ie Johannes Nicolin, German engineer, will receive the prestigious European Railway
Award.
www.whatsonni.com
www.flickr.com/Yellabelly*
www.flickr.com/james The Irish Transport smyth Minister Mr. Varadkar is of course invited to be the keynote
Ruth Gregory speaker of this high level event of the rail community
N.Kirby

tABLE OF COntEntS
1. Introduction - UNIFE’s value system
2. Dossiers during the Irish Presidency
2.1. Connecting Europe Facility
2.2. TEN-T Policy Review
2.3. Cohesion Policy Review
2.4. Fourth Railway Package
2.5. FTA negotiations with Japan
2.6. International Public Procurement Instrument
2.7. Horizon 2020 and the future of Transport Research
3. UNIFE initiatives during the Irish Presidency
3.1. SHIFT²RAIL, the rail Joint Technology Initiative
3.2. ERTMS
3.3. UNIFE-CER Annual Reception
4. About UNIFE
5. Notes
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1. IntrODUCtIOn -
UnIFE’S VALUE SYStEm
Rail is the greenest and safest mode of transport. However,
despite its obvious benefits, rail today is performing
at a level lower than should be expected. It still has
great potential that needs to be unleashed in order to
meet two key objectives set in the Commission’s Transport
White Paper published in March 2011:
• 30% of road freight over 300 km should shift to other modes such as
rail or waterborne transport by 2030, and more than 50% by 2050,
facilitated by efficient and green freight corridors. To meet this goal
will also require appropriate infrastructure to be developed.
• By 2050, complete a European high-speed rail network. Triple the
length of the existing high-speed rail network by 2030 and maintain
a dense railway network in all Member States. By 2050 the
majority of medium-distance passenger transport should go by
rail.
“Rail is the greenest and
safest mode of transport.”
This briefing contains information on the key transport policy dossiers
that will be discussed during the Irish Presidency of the European
Council (part 2) and it explains important initiatives to which UNIFE
would like to draw the attention of the Irish Presidency (part 3).
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2. DOSSIErS DUrInG tHE
IrISH prESIDEnCY
Seven main dossiers that will be discussed during the Irish
Presidency can play an important role for attaining the objectives
outlined above.
2.1. Connecting Europe Facility
With a proposed budget of up to € 50 billion between 2014 and 2020, the Connecting
Europe Facility (CEF) is specifically designed to promote growth, jobs and
competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment at European level.
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It will support the roll-out of high-performing, sustainable and joined-up trans-
European networks in the fields of transport, energy, and broadband and digital
services.
On 18 December 2012, the European Parliament’s ITRE and TRAN Committees
voted on the amendments to the European Commission’s proposal for the Connecting
Europe Facility. Under the Danish Presidency, the EU Council reached
a partial general approach in June, which is quite in line with UNIFE’s position.
The dossier is expected to be formally approved in 2013 under the Irish Presidency
of the EU Council.
Following the EP vote of 18 December 2012, UNFE regrets the reduction of the
EU financing rate for on-board equipment to 40% of the eligible cost for ERTMS.
As the full benefits of ERTMS are realised only when a significant number of
neighbouring countries have made the necessary investments to upgrade their
network, EU funding is pivotal in increasing the pace of ERTMS deployment
along the European railway network.
UNIFE calls upon the Council of the European Union to
adopt the following measures on the Connecting Europe
Facility:
01
Be consistent with the objectives of the Transport White Paper
by giving clear priority to the development of rail transport
infrastructure;
02
Strengthen the importance of ERTMS deployment as a horizontal
priority, by maintaining the existing financing rate of
50%;
03
Safeguard the € 31.7 billion budget for transport infrastructure
proposed by the European Commission for the EU budget
2014-2020 which already covers only a marginal part of the
TEN-T investment needs (€ 550 billion by 2020);
04
Clarify co-financing rules for transport infrastructure projects
and add climate-proofing considerations to the criteria for
setting co-financing rates.
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2.2. TEN-T Policy Review
On 19 October 2011, the European Commission unveiled its proposals for the
Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) Guidelines. The Commission proposed
a dual layer approach consisting of a core network and a comprehensive
network. The overall objective is to finalise the core network by 2030 and the
comprehensive network by 2050. UNIFE welcomes the Commission’s proposals
which are mostly in line with the objectives set in the Transport White Paper
published in March 2011.
In particular, UNIFE appreciates the Commission’s intention to focus on the
implementation of TEN-T projects, subjecting EU Member States and all other
actors involved to the rights and obligations of the Regulation. Under current
regulation, one Member State can effectively block the implementation of an entire
project.
On 18 December 2012, the European Parliament’s TRAN Committee voted on the
amendments to the European Commission’s proposal for the Trans-European
Transport Network Guidelines.
The European Parliament made a number of significant improvements to the
Commission’s proposal, focussing on the actual implementation of the programme.
The dossier is expected to be formally approved in 2013 under the Irish Presidency
of the EU Council.
UNIFE calls upon the Council of the European Union to
adopt the following measures in the framework of the
TEN-T Policy Review:
01
02
A clear priority to develop rail transport infrastructure that reflects
the modal shift objectives set out in the Transport White
Paper;
The setting up of intermediate objectives in order to reinforce
the credibility of the programme. For example, 2023 would be
a very suitable milestone for an intermediate reality check of
the programme;
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An increase and a more efficient use of the TEN-T budget,
complemented with new resources;
Clear mandatory provisions for ERTMS full implementation by
2030 on all railway lines of the core network and by 2050 on all
railway lines in the comprehensive network.
2.3. Cohesion Policy Review
On 6 October 2011, the European Commission presented its legislative
proposals for the next programming period of the Cohesion
Policy (2014-2020). UNIFE very much welcomes these
proposals that are mostly in line with its position to green the
Cohesion Policy and improve absorption capacity of Central
and Eastern European Member States.
UNIFE calls upon the Council of the European Union to
adopt the following measures for the next programming
period (2014-2020):
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01
A sufficient allocation of the Cohesion Fund and ERDF shall
be given to transport (in addition to the proposed Connecting
Europe Facility);
02
All European Regions (including the most "developed" ones)
should be entitled to use ERDF to fund transport infrastructures;
03
Co-financing rates should be defined according to the sustainability
of the projects, taking into account climate performance;
04
A level-playing field shall be established between transport
modes as regards eligible expenditure. The deduction of revenues
generated by rail infrastructure from EU co-financing
should be allowed only if similar provisions exist for road
transport in the Member States concerned. Alternatively, the
co-financing rate of sustainable projects generating revenue
should be higher than the co-financing rate of less sustainable
and non-revenue generating projects;
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Cohesion Policy financial instruments should allow to combine
EU and private funding in pools and leasing scheme for
rolling stock financing;
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Ex-ante conditions as proposed by the European Commission
shall be kept so as to increase funds absorption, especially in
Central and Eastern European countries. This is an extremely
important issue.
2.4. Fourth Railway Package
UNIFE considers that the 4th Railway Package offers a major opportunity to
make the railway market more efficient and competitive whilst supporting the
creation of a real Single European Railway Area.
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Today, markets still do not function at their optimum in rail transport, as compared
to other transport modes. In a number of EU Member States, the market
structure fosters effective competition. Some Member States still appear to seek
to protect the incumbent operator from competition despite the fact that both
the aviation sector and the road sector demonstrated the dynamics that can
be set free by competition. Market opening and liberalisation must be pushed
in order to allow rail transport to develop its potential and compete with other
transport modes.
Similarly, the creation of a Single European Railway Area is hampered by the lack
of harmonisation of the different national regulatory environments and of a real
European type authorisation for rolling vehicles. This situation, which results in
high costs for the putting into service of railway vehicles and equipment, is in
stark contrast to that of other transport modes which benefit from a simpler,
harmonised authorisation regime.
Currently, rolling stock with a value of € 1.6 billion is immobilised within Europe
due to lengthy and cumbersome authorisation procedures (600 days on average)
in different Member States.
UNIFE considers the 4th Railway Package should aim to:
01
Enhance the role of the European Railway Agency (ERA), as
outlined in the Position Paper published by CER and UNIFE on
vehicle authorisation 1 ;
02
03
04
Simplify and speed up the authorisation process and harmonise
it amongst Member States, with ERA becoming the single
issuing authority for authorisation, ensuring the coherence of
processes and rules;
Enforce the process for cleaning up national rules;
Empower ERA to pro-actively work with non-European bodies
and ensure that European railway standards are adopted
globally, and enable ERA to have an increased role on the global
stage;
1
http://www.unife.org/uploads/CER_and_UNIFE_Position_Paper_on_the_Future_role_of_ERA.pdf
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Ensure an efficient liberalisation of the domestic passenger
markets whilst clarifying the relation between infrastructure
management and railway operators, and the attribution of
public service contracts under competitive conditions.
2.5. FTA negotiations with Japan
On 29 November 2012, the European Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) decided to
give the European Commission ‘the green light’ to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) with Japan. UNIFE welcomes the opening of the negotiations, even
though immediate steps could already be taken to open the Japanese rail market.
Despite the efforts made by the European Commission and the rail industry in
the past four years, no significant steps have been taken so far by the Japanese
government and operators to improve access to public procurement in the
railway sector. This contrasts with the situation in Europe, where Japanese rail
suppliers have access to the market and were indeed awarded major contracts.
Whilst the launch of FTA negotiations is a significant opportunity to remedy to
this situation, UNIFE considers that, as far as railway is concerned, immediate
steps to open their rail market could be taken by the Japanese authorities, in
line with the EU-Japan exchange of letters on railway procurement signed in
December 2011.
In particular, UNIFE would like to stress the following points:
01
The Japanese government should take immediate steps to ensure
that European suppliers get a comparable and effective
access to the Japanese market; these steps, which should include
concrete business opportunities for European suppliers,
should be carefully reviewed after one year of negotiations;
02
The Operational Safety Clause, if not completely removed,
should be applied in a transparent, predictable, and non-discriminatory
manner;
The three JRs, which represent the major share of the Japa-
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nese rail procurement market, should remain within the scope
of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)
and be covered by the FTA negotiations.
2.6. International Public Procurement Instrument
The European Commission published its proposals to create an international
public procurement instrument in March 2012 (draft Regulation on the access
of third-country goods and services to the Union’s internal market in public procurement
and procedures supporting negotiations on access of Union goods
and services to the public procurement markets of third countries).
UNIFE member companies supply an estimated 50% of the worldwide production
of railway services. As global companies whose products are usually purchased
through public procurement procedures, the European rail suppliers
have experienced facing different levels of openness when trying to establish
themselves in non-European markets. In some countries, they face significant
barriers to international public procurement in their daily operations, be it in
the form of protective procurement measures, technology transfers, "buy local"
provisions, or de facto exclusion. These barriers result in missed business
opportunities for the European industry, and ultimately impact both economic
growth and jobs. They strongly contrast with the situation in Europe, where
public procurement rules are fully transparent and open as per the EU Public
Procurement legislation.
UNIFE therefore considers that the European trade and procurement policies
should be put at the service of the industry and support the opening of third
countries’ markets. The EU should aim at promoting public procurement rules
which are as transparent and open as the European ones, thereby improving
market access for the European industry.
For this reason, UNIFE strongly supports the Commission’s proposals to create
a specific procurement instrument as a means to increase the EU’s leverage
in trade negotiations and create business opportunities for the European
industry.
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UNIFE calls the Irish Presidency of the EU to:
01
Immediately launch discussions on the proposed international
public procurement instrument at the EU Council;
02
Find a suitable compromise which could accommodate the
Member States whilst featuring a high-level of ambition and
creating new business opportunities for the European rail industry.
2.7. Horizon 2020 and the future of Transport
Research
On 30 November 2011, the European Commission presented a package of measures
aiming at boosting research, innovation and competitiveness in Europe
through the creation of Horizon 2020, a new multiannual Framework Programme
of € 80 billion for investment in research and innovation. UNIFE very
much welcomes these proposals which foresee a considerable increase of the
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total multiannual Research and Innovation budget (€ 53 billion for 2007-2013)
and especially appreciates the increase of the proposed budget for Transport
Research (€ 7,69 billion instead of € 4,16 billion for 2007-2013).
However, on 28 November 2012, the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee
adopted the Madurell’s Report on “Horizon 2020 – The Framework Programme
for Research and Innovation” which foresees a dramatic decrease of the future
Transport Research budget: from 8.8% to 6.9% of the total Horizon 2020 budget.
At a time where key European industrial companies from the rail sector with
some infrastructure managers and soon with railways undertakings are teaming
up to build an ambitious Research Programme aiming at building tomorrow’s
railway system – the SHIFT²RAIL Joint Technology Initiative (JTI), which
they intend to co-finance with the European Union – this is unfortunately a
very worrying signal that is sent to the rail transport sector.
UNIFE calls the Irish Presidency of the EU to:
01
Guarantee an ambitious budget for Horizon 2020 and more
specifically for Transport Research by getting back to the initial
proposal of the European Commission;
02
03
Make sure that all research activities provide a support to the
shift towards sustainable transport modes (such as rail) in
line with the objectives of the White Paper on Transport;
Make sure that Horizon 2020 will foresee the possibility for
the EU to launch new Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI) in key
economic sectors (such as the rail sector).
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3. UnIFE InItIAtIVES DUrInG
tHE IrISH prESIDEnCY
During the Irish Presidency, UNIFE will be working on three
initiatives that have the potential to increase significantly the
competitiveness of the railway sector.
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3.1. SHIFT²RAIL, the rail Joint Technology
Initiative
JTIs are instruments created under the current EU Research Framework Programme.
They move away from the traditional case-by-case public funding of
projects approach towards large scale research programs that couple research
tightly to technological innovation.
The European rail industry is at a turning point of its history. Whilst European
companies have built up a global presence, they increasingly face competition
from suppliers from other countries (e.g. China, Japan, South Korea). At the same
time, the EU’s transport sector faces considerable challenges, as highlighted in
the Transport White Paper. Whilst rail can make transport more sustainable, the
sector clearly needs to improve its capacity to absorb bigger shares of traffic and
develop its attractiveness and efficiency.
It is now essential to secure adequate level of funding for research to produce
real innovation in an industrial sector that accounts for € 136 billion turnover,
which is rapidly growing and provides 400000 direct and indirect jobs in Europe.
During the past two years, major European rail stakeholders, under the umbrella
of UNIFE and in cooperation with the whole railway community – including infrastructure
managers and soon leading railway undertakings – have therefore
initiated a major effort to identify the priority research axes which should pave
the way for tomorrow’s railways. In-depth investigations, involving hundreds
of experts and engineers, have been conducted to identify how best innovation
could increase the competitiveness of the European industry. These investigations
have now resulted into the creation of a long term research programme
on rolling stock, traffic management, infrastructure, telematics and freight, with
clear strategic objectives: the SHIFT²RAIL Joint Technology Initiative (JTI).
The development of the SHIFT²RAIL JTI has been supported at the highest level
within the industry, with the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) by the CEOs of the leading European rail companies in June 2012, in which
they commit themselves to a long-term investment in the future of European
rail research. The current signatories of this MoU are Alstom Transport, Ansaldo
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Breda , Ansaldo STS, Bombardier Transportation, CAF, Faiveley, Invensys Rail,
Knorr Bremse, Network Rail, Thales, Siemens, Strukton Rail, Trafikverket, Vossloh
and UNIFE.
Additional companies, e.g. leading railway undertakings, infrastructure managers
and industrial partners, are about to join the initiative. Altogether, these
European rail stakeholders are ready to commit themselves to bring 50% of an
overall budget amounting to € 1 billion over a six to seven year period in the
framework of the future Horizon 2020 Programme. As a significant part of this
SHIFT²RAIL budget (around 25%) will be managed through open calls for proposals,
this will also encourage the participation of numerous SMEs all over Europe.
UNIFE is already working with the academia and research institutes and would
also be happy to discuss this issue with the Irish Presidency of the EU.
The Joint Technology Initiative has been presented to Transport Commissioner
Siim Kallas and Research Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. UNIFE Members
expressed their willingness to have the SHIFT 2 RAIL initiative approved by
the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament in 2013 for an implementation
in 2014.
The final proposal has been officially presented to DG MOVE and DG RESEARCH
on 13 July 2012 and is now in the hands of the European Commission for examination.
An addendum to the SHIFT 2 RAIL proposal will be sent to the Commission
in January 2013. UNIFE Members will present the progress on SHIFT 2 RAIL at a
Rail Forum Europe dinner that will take place on 18 February 2013 at the European
Parliament in Brussels. Representatives of the Irish Presidency of the EU
are of course invited to participate in the dinner debate.
UNIFE would be very happy to make a full presentation on the SHIFT²RAIL JTI to
the Irish Presidency in Brussels or Dublin at the beginning of 2013.
UNIFE calls upon the Council of the European Union to
support SHIFT2RAIL, the rail sector’s Joint Technology
Initiative, in this preparatory phase.
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3.2. ERTMS
UNIFE suggests that ERTMS is considered as a top priority
throughout the Presidency to promote a fast and coordinated
migration to ERTMS throughout the EU.
To date, about 62000 km of tracks worldwide
are contracted to be equipped with
ERTMS or are already in service². The system
is a proof of European excellence, and
investments outside Europe now account
for more than 50% of total ERTMS sales.
In Europe, ERTMS has been successfully
implemented in number of countries, and
where this has been the case, infrastructure
managers and operators are already
reaping the benefits of their investments
in terms of safety, speed and capacity (e.g.
Spanish and Italian High Speed networks, high-density lines in Switzerland, etc.).
A new Memorandum of Understanding on ERTMS involving the European Commission,
the European Railway Agency and the railway associations (CER, UIC,
UNIFE, EIM, GSM-R Industry Group and ERFA) was signed on 16 April 2012 during
a Danish Presidency event in Copenhagen, jointly chaired by Danish Transport
Minister Henrik Dam Kristensen and Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas.
UNIFE calls upon the Member States to accelerate the
deployment of ERTMS in Europe as a matter of urgency,
especially on the six ERTMS corridors.
² Please see UNIFE ERTMS Deployment statistics on http://www.ertms-online.com/
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3.3. UNIFE-CER Annual Reception
Together with 400 European transport stakeholders and its partner association
CER, the Community of European Railways and Infrastructure Managers, UNIFE
will start the political year with the Annual Reception held in Brussels on 26
February 2013. At the presence of Vice-President of the European Commission
Siim Kallas, Mr. Benedikt Weibel, former CEO of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
and Dr Johannes Nicolin, German engineer, will receive the prestigious European
Railway Award.
The Irish Transport Minister Mr. Varadkar is of course invited to be the keynote
speaker of this high level event of the rail community.
For further questions, please contact:
Leonardo Dongiovanni
Public Affairs Manager
+32 2 642 23 29
Leonardo.dongiovanni@UNIFE.org
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ABOUt UnIFE
UNIFE represents the European Rail Industry in Brussels since 1992. The Association
gathers 81 of Europe’s leading large and medium-sized rail supply companies
active in the design, manufacture, maintenance and refurbishment of rail
transport systems, subsystems and related equipment. A further one thousand
suppliers of railway equipment partake in UNIFE activities through 15 national
rail industry associations. UNIFE members have an 80% market share in Europe
and supply more than 50% of the worldwide production of rail equipment and
services.
UNIFE represents its members’ interests at the level of both European and international
institutions. On the technical side, UNIFE works on the setting of interoperability
standards and coordinates EU-funded research projects that aim
at the technical harmonisation of railway systems. The Association is one of the
supporting bodies of the European Railway Agency.
UNIFE. Promote Rail Market Growth For Sustainable Mobility
www.unife.org
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