EU Commission presents its transport proposals

Brussels/Berlin. The trend towards using different modes of transport, which can be increasing observed among younger people, has been given a boost by Brussels. In its latest white paper on transport, the Commission appears to be determined to force through 'new mobility concepts' in the EU to reduce dependency on oil and also therefore road transport's dependency on the internal combustion engine.  Inter-connections between the individual modes of transport will be improved, the "well-trodden transport policy path" of the last 40 years must be left behind.

"The EU Commission's whitepaper is a pleasant contrast to the 'business as usual' transport policies that are so dominant in Germany. The whitepaper signals the start of a new era in the world of mobility," said Dirk Flege, managing director of the German Pro-Rail Alliance on Monday in Berlin.
The transport alliance's managing director welcomed the fact that the whitepaper has, for the first time, defined a concrete target for reducing the European transport sector's emissions of greenhouse gases. "The reduction target of minus 60 percent by 2050 [compared with 1990] is lower than other sectors of the economy are capable of achieving, but in view of the fact that CO2 emissions from the transport sector are still rising, the target is nevertheless ambitious and we will support it as a minimum."

Flege also praised the targets for modal shift in the EU's new transport policy. "The EU Commission wants to develop the railway's inherent efficiency advantages, that is long overdue." By 2050, the whitepaper proposes, 50 percent of road freight journeys over 300km should be shifted onto the railways, as well as ships and inland waterways. For passenger transport, EU officials are targeting a market share for the railways of "more than 50 percent for medium distance journeys".

The EU Commission wants to achieve this target by, among other things, massively expanding rail infrastructure, which is primarily the task of national governments. For example, it wants to triple the size of the high-speed rail network by 2030. It also wants to address the distorted competition that negatively impacts the railways, such as tax exemptions on aviation fuel. Inter-connections between the various modes of transport will also be improved. 
The EU Commission also sees pricing as important. In future, users of transport services will "have to pay a higher contribution towards that cost of mobility than today", according to a section of the whitepaper entitled 'Getting Prices Right'.

Flege added: "In other words, what the EU Commission's long-term ambitions on cost transparency really mean is that mobility will become more expensive, but that the hidden, external costs of transport, which are paid for by the general public, will be reduced. Making each mode of transport directly pay for what its mobility services actually cost will make the railways more attractive because they cause lower hidden external costs than aviation or road transport. We are pleased that a long-standing demand by the Pro-Rail Alliance will now become a long-term goal for the EU Commission. The Commission's ideas now have to be realised as quickly as possible"