COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 15 December 1981 on Community railway policy

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Commission memorandum of 12 December 1980 on Community railway policy,

Having regard to its Decision of 20 May 1975 on the improvement of the situation of railway undertakings and the harmonization of rules governing financial relations between such undertakings and States (1),

Whereas railway policy is an essential part of the common transport policy;

Whereas railways should be enabled to play a more important role in international transport;

Whereas it is important to improve the efficiency of railways to meet the needs of the economy in general and users in particular, notably by exploiting rail transport's potential for saving energy and using sources of energy other than oil, preserving the environment and providing, under suitable conditions, certain types of transport such as long-distance or heavy freight;

Whereas the financial situation of railways is a constant source of concern to governments,

Recognizes that Member States, and the Community as a whole, as well as the railway undertakings themselves, have a direct interest in improving the situation of the railways;

Is of the opinion that, to this end and within the framework of the common transport policy, particular attention should be paid to the following areas: - optimum use of available railway capacity,

- closer international cooperation, particularly oncommercial matters,

- emphasis of the common interest in internationaltransport,

- organization of relations between railway undertakingsand governments so as to give such undertakingssufficient independence, within thecontext of the objectives referred to in Article 2 ofthe Council Decision of 20 May 1975, as regardstheir commercial management, and in order toenable them to adapt to market requirements andtechnical developments,

- elimination of distortions of competition affectingrailways,

- development of combined transport,

- facilitation and speeding up of frontier crossings,

- adaptation of the organization, infrastructure, andequipment of the railways to enable them to playtheir part in meeting the present-day needs of theeconomy and the population,

- financial situation of the railways.

Calls upon the Commission to pursue vigorously the implementation of the Community railway policy and in particular the work on promoting, in cooperation with the Member States, cooperation between railway undertakings;

Further calls upon the Commission to submit to the Council, after establishing the necessary contacts with the railway undertakings, and if possible by 1 July 1982, a report accompanied as appropriate by proposals concerning: - barriers to closer cooperation between railwayundertakings, specifying those barriers which maybe eliminated by government intervention,

- possibilities for improving fast internationalpassenger services on suitable routes, (1) OJ No L 152, 12.6.1975, p. 3.

- the trend of price-formation systems for internationalgoods traffic, and the foreseeabledevelopment of those systems,

- the determination of guidelines for allocatingrevenue from international traffic which take intoconsideration the common interests of the railwayundertakings concerned,

- progress in discussions by the CoordinatingCommittee on piggy-back transport concerningthe future organization of such transport,

- the organization and development of containertraffic,

- a possible system of rail links and freight-handlingcentres designed to cope with the future increasein combined transport, with an indication of thetechnical features.