Europe's rail cabotage brakes while private sector stokes up.

(From Lloyds List)

A POLITICAL compromise by European transport ministers has delayed rail freight cabotage by two years but will cut through the red tape hampering the start of private sector services, writes Roger Hailey.

The Council of Ministers has put back the final deadline for opening domestic rail freight market to cabotage from March 2006 to January 2008. The decision was passed by a qualified majority, with the French, Belgian and Luxembourg delegates voting against.

Although cross-border international rail freight was opened up to private sector competition two weeks ago, similar legislation for domestic, or cabotage, rail freight is lagging behind.

France, whose state-owned SNCF Fret has the most to lose from cabotage, has already axed its head of rail freight as it prepares for a long battle with rail unions which fear heavy job losses.

For its part, the Commission will submit a progress report by January 2007 on how the implementation of the market access directive has gone for international freight.

The Commission also intends to present by the end of this year a proposal for the introduction of a European driving licence for train drivers, a key operational measure for promoting cross-border and domestic rail ...