Fourth railway package

On 30 January 2013, the European Commission presented the fourth railway package. The fourth railway package consists of three proposals for directives and three regulations.

The Commission seeks to liberalize the entire rail passenger transport in the Member States in December 2019. For this, the fourth railway package is to mandate access of all suppliers to the networks that regulate the centralization of licensing procedures and safety regulations at the European Railway Agency and pretend tenders of all offers. Access to services such as maintenance, sales, passenger information systems and cargo handling terminals should be facilitated competitors.

The package envisages restrictions in the field of Public Service services. Public service in public transport are traffic offers that can not be financed by the sale of tickets, but their operation is in the public interest. Due to the requirements of the Fourth Railway Package is the ability to grant public services directly to operators and the public authorities abolished. Also prohibited is the ability to subsidize transport services. The public sector as principal shall, according to the provisions of the package, the residual value risk of vehicles from providers whose service contract is not extended take over.

As far as the tracks can not prove the separation of infrastructure and operations, they are from 2019 no longer allowed to work in other EU countries. The proposal provides no concrete date for the separation of infrastructure and operations. An evaluation is planned for 2024. Massive lobbying was exercised above all by France and Germany.

The European Commission's proposals subject to the ordinary legislative procedure, so that the European Parliament and the Council approve the European Union.